tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-120383722018-06-26T00:54:48.799-07:00Marinerds, etc.A baseball blog written by a Fighters fangirl who moved back to the US after several years in Japan. Probably likely to continue being about Japanese amateur baseball and bashing the Yomiuri Giants, but who knows what the future holds.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08546022204387548869noreply@blogger.comBlogger1195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-11960458687876758762017-10-26T01:00:00.000-07:002018-01-10T15:42:41.351-08:00Draft 2017 LivebloggingHello and welcome to my <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/search/label/Draft%20Results">12th annual</a> anguish over hoping the Giants don't draft my favorite college players, also known as Marinerds NPB Draft Liveblogging!<br /><br />This year's draft is on Thursday the 26th in Japan at 5pm; which means Thursday morning at 1am here in California.&nbsp; <br /><br />Moving the commentary to below the grid now.&nbsp; Current state of things is that it's Friday morning and I have the entire draft table translated and the entire ikusei list, except that the Hawks didn't put out much info on their ikusei guys and I haven't had time to research them yet.<br /><br /><pre>Name Pos HS/Univ/Company T/B DOB Ht/Wt <br />-------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- -------<br /><a href="http://www.marines.co.jp/news/detail/00001548.html">Marines</a><br /><strike>1 Kotaro Kiyomiya</strike><br />1 Hisanori Yasuda IF Riseisha HS R/L 04/15/1999 188/95<br />2 Yudai Fujioka IF Toyota R/L 08/08/1993 177/78<br />3 Daiki Yamamoto P Mitsubishi Okayama L/L 11/10/1995 182/73<br />4 Tsuyoshi Sugano OF Hitachi R/L 05/06/1993 173/80<br />5 Keita Watanabe P NTT Higashinihon R/R 09/13/1993 177/70<br />6 Shoji Nagano P Honda L/L 03/02/1993 181/82<br /><br />i1 Koshiro Wada OF Toyama Thunderbirds L/L 01/14/1999 185/72<br />i2 Ryotaro Mori P Miyakonojo Shogyo HS R/L 04/22/1999 180/80<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yakult-swallows.co.jp/pages/info/players/draft2017">Swallows</a><br /><strike>1 Kotaro Kiyomiya</strike><br />1 Munetaka Murakami C Kyushu Gakuin HS R/L 02/02/2000 186/96<br />2 Yuma Ohshita P Mitsubishi Hiroshima R/L 07/06/1992 179/84<br />3 Harutaka Kuramoto P Okayama Shogyo Univ R/R 05/16/1995 186/95<br />4 Yasutaka Shiomi OF JX-ENEOS R/R 06/12/1993 179/73<br />5 Yuto Kanakubo P Tokai Ichihara Boyo HS R/L 11/04/1999 183/75<br />6 Takeshi Miyamoto IF Nara Gakuen Univ R/L 04/03/1995 181/78<br />7 Naoki Matsumoto C Seino Unyu R/R 10/17/1993 177/85<br />8 Takumi Numata P Ishikawa Million Stars R/R 03/04/1994 185/85<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fighters.co.jp/news/detail/00000603.html">Fighters</a><br />1 Kotaro Kiyomiya IF Waseda Jitsugyo HS R/L 05/25/1999 184/102<br />2 Takahiro Nishimura P NTT Higashinihon R/R 05/06/1993 177/87<br />3 Eito Tanaka P Yanagigaura HS R/L 07/13/1999 184/70<br />4 Yuhei Nanba IF Soshi Gakuen HS R/L 05/06/1999 178/76<br />5 Ryuji Kitaura P Hakuohdai Ashikaga HS L/L 01/12/2000 184/85<br />6 Ryotaro Suzuki P Tohoku Gakuin Univ R/R 02/18/1996 183/83<br />7 Kohei Miyadai P Tokyo Univ L/L 07/01/1995 178/83<br /><br /><a href="http://dragons.jp/news/2017/draft.html">Dragons</a><br /><strike>1 Shosei Nakamura</strike><br />1 Hiroshi Suzuki P Yamaha R/R 03/22/1997 181/95<br />2 Sho Ishikawa P Seiran Taito HS R/L 12/14/1999 179/81<br />3 Wataru Takamatsu IF Takikawa #2 HS R/L 07/02/1999 176/65<br />4 Tatsuya Shimizu P Hanasaki Tokuharu HS R/R 11/03/1999 182/83<br />5 Kosuke Itoh OF Chukyodai Chukyo HS R/R 02/03/2000 173/76<br />6 Takumi Yamamoto P Nishinomiya Shiritsu HS R/R 01/31/2000 167/71<br /><br />i1 Akito Ohkura P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 05/15/1994 191/88<br />i2 Kento Mark Ishida P Ryukoku Univ R/R 07/18/1995 184/83<br /><br /><a href="http://www.buffaloes.co.jp/news/detail/00000816.html">Buffaloes</a><br />1 Daiki Tajima P JR Higashinihon L/L 08/03/1996 182/77<br />2 Kohei Suzuki P Hitachi R/R 01/21/1994 186/88<br />3 Shuhei Fukuda IF NTT Higashinihon R/L 08/08/1992 169/69<br />4 Hitomi Honda P Seisa Kokusai HS R/L 07/27/1999 181/75<br />5 Ryo Nishimura C Subaru R/R 02/21/1996 176/75<br />6 Hayato Nishiura OF Meitoku Gijuku HS R/L 05/21/1999 178/70<br />7 Shinya Hirosawa IF Oita Shogyo HS R/R 08/11/1999 175/67<br />8 Tatsuya Yamaashi IF Honda Suzuka R/R 10/26/1993 174/74<br /><br />i1 Hiroki Inatomi C Sanda Shosei HS R/L 04/27/1999 178/88<br />i2 Kohei Azuma P Kobe Koryo HS R/R 12/14/1999 178/73<br />i3 Akihito Hiyane IF Hiryu HS R/R 08/25/1999 182/82<br />i4 Felipe Kisu Desouza C Gotenbani HS R/R 09/04/1999 176/73<br /><br /><a href="http://www.giants.jp/G/gnews/news_3912197.html">Giants</a><br /><strike>1 Kotaro Kiyomiya<br />1 Munetaka Murakami</strike> <br />1 Takuya Kuwahara P Chuo University R/R 03/26/1996 175/78<br />2 Yukinori Kishida C Osaka Gas R/R 10/10/1996 175/78<br />3 Takumi Ohshiro C NTT Nishinihon R/L 02/11/1993 187/86<br />4 Takumi Kitamura IF Asia Univ R/R 08/29/1995 181/87<br />5 Shunta Tanaka IF Hitachi R/L 08/18/1993 180/83<br />6 Akihiro Wakabayashi IF JX-ENEOS R/S 08/26/1993 180/77<br />7 Kaito Murakami OF Nara Gakuen Univ R/R 07/07/1995 189/94<br />8 Dai Yuasa IF Takasaki Fukushi HS R/R 01/24/2000 170/67<br /><br />i1 Kenshin Higa IF Moriokadai HS R/L 01/12/2000 180/82<br />i2 Shingo Yamakami P Tokiwa HS R/R 09/21/1999 183/75<br />i3 Shun Kasai OF Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/R 04/20/1995 180/80<br />i4 Yudai Tanaka P Haguro HS R/R 09/14/1999 183/75<br />i5 Rui Hirohata C Rissho Univ R/L 06/17/1995 177/72<br />i6 Shohei Koyama C Kansai Univ R/R 03/25/1996 170/70<br />i7 Koki Orishita IF Shinno HS R/R 02/14/2000 177/86<br />i8 Sota Arai OF Sekine Gakuen HS R/R 09/27/1999 190/98<br /><br /><a href="https://www.rakuteneagles.jp/news/detail/00000773.html">Eagles</a><br /><strike>1 Kotaro Kiyomiya<br />1 Munetaka Murakami</strike> <br />1 Hiroki Kondoh P Okayama Shogyo Univ R/R 06/27/1995 187/92<br />2 Masaki Iwami OF Keio Univ R/R 07/10/1994 187/107<br />3 Tsuyoshi Yamasaki IF Kokugakuin Univ R/L 12/29/1995 172/72<br />4 Yuki Watanabe P Yokohama Shokadai L/L 11/08/1995 182/82<br />5 Akito Tanaka OF Hyogo Blue Thunders R/R 03/05/1996 181/98<br />6 Kenji Nishimaki IF Sendai Ikuei R/R 04/22/1999 168/73<br />7 Kanji Teraoka OF Ishikawa Million Stars R/R 12/03/1992 180/85<br /><br />i1 Ryotaro Ide P Kyushu Sangyo Univ R/L 03/20/1996 185/83<br />i2 Kyoshiro Matsumoto IF Konan HS (Fukushima) R/L 09/21/1999 172/72<br />i3 Kazuki Nakamura OF Tenri Univ L/L 10/26/1995 173/75<br /><br /><a href="http://www.baystars.co.jp/news/2017/10/1026_05.php">Baystars</a><br />1 Katsuki Azuma P Ritsumeikan Univ L/L 11/29/1995 170/70<br />2 Kazuki Kamizato OF Nihon Seimei R/L 01/17/1994 178/83<br />3 Kosuke Sakaguchi P Hokkai HS R/L 08/15/1999 186/80<br />4 Shunsuke Saitoh P JX-ENEOS R/R 01/07/1994 176/81<br />5 Shuto Sakurai P Nichidai Sanko HS L/L 06/25/1999 178/80<br />6 Koki Terada P Ishikawa Million Stars R/R 01/05/1992 175/73<br />7 Shumei Miyamoto IF Panasonic R/L 07/24/1996 176/81<br />8 Taishi Kusumoto IF Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/L 07/07/1995 180/77<br />9 Yudai Yamamoto C Shiga United R/R 09/11/1998 178/78<br /><br />i1 Koh Nakagawa P Minoshima HS R/R 10/02/1999 178/79<br /><br /><a href="http://www.seibulions.jp/news/detail/00001094.html">Lions</a><br /><strike>1 Daiki Tajima</strike><br />1 Hiromasa Saitoh P Meiji Univ L/L 06/03/1995 178/75<br />2 Manaya Nishikawa OF Hanasaki Tokuharu HS R/L 06/10/1999 180/78<br />3 Sho Itoh P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 02/10/1999 175/70<br />4 Kaima Taira P Yaeyama Shoko HS R/L 11/15/1999 173/80<br />5 Kaito Yoza P Gifu Keizai Univ R/R 09/15/1995 173/74<br />6 Ryusei Tsunashima IF Itoigakawa Hakurei HS R/L 01/21/2000 178/72<br /><br />i1 Wataru Takagi OF Shinsokan HS R/L 12/06/1999 180/77<br />i2 Masato Saitoh C Hokkaido Kyoiku Univ R/L 08/07/1995 180/86<br /><br /><a href="http://hanshintigers.jp/news/topics/draft2017.html">Tigers</a><br /><strike><br />1 Kotaro Kiyomiya<br />1 Hisanori Yasuda</strike><br />1 Kosuke Baba P Sendai Univ R/R 05/18/1995 180/88<br />2 Haruto Takahashi P Asia Univ L/L 11/07/1995 179/80<br />3 Takahiro Kumagai IF Rikkio Univ R/R 11/10/1995 175/70<br />4 Kairi Shimada P Jobu Univ R/L 02/06/1996 175/72<br />5 Masaki Tanigawa P Kyushu Mitsubishi R/R 10/06/1992 175/76<br />6 Joichiro Maki P Keishin HS R/L 09/23/1998 181/81<br /><br />i1 Masaki Ishii P Jobu Univ L/L 07/12/1995 180/82<br /><br /><a href="http://www.softbankhawks.co.jp/news/detail/00000903.html">Hawks</a><br /><strike>1 Kotaro Kiyomiya<br />1 Hisanori Yasuda<br />1 Kosuke Baba</strike><br />1 Haruto Yoshizumi P Tsuruoka Higashi HS R/R 03/12/2000 185/85<br />2 Rei Takahashi P Senshu Univ R/R 11/02/1995 187/80<br />3 Shu Masuda OF Yokohama HS R/R 05/21/1999 185/83<br />4 Arata Shiino P Kokushikan Univ R/R 10/10/1995 194/88<br />5 Fumimaru Taura P Shugakukan HS L/L 09/21/1999 170/75<br /><br />i1 Shuto Ogata P Ishikawa Gijuku HS R/L<br />i2 Ukyo Shuutoh IF Nodai Univ Okhotsk R/L<br />i3 Richard Sunakawa IF Okinawa Shogaku HS R/R<br />i4 Kotaro Ohtake P Waseda Univ L/L<br />i5 Yamato Higurashi OF Tachibana Gakuen HS L/L<br />i6 Yuta Watanabe P Niigata Albirex L/L<br /><br />note: the Hawks provided very little detail on their ikusei and I haven't had time to research yet<br /><br /><a href="http://www.carp.co.jp/news17/n-303.html">Carp</a><br />1 Shosei Nakamura C Koryo HS R/R 06/06/1999 181/77<br />2 Sho Yamaguchi P Kumamoto Kogyo HS R/L 07/13/1999 184/70<br />3 Brad Makoto Kenma P Nihon Bunri Univ R/R 06/05/1995 192/90<br />4 Atsushi Nagai OF Nishogakusha HS R/R 01/10/2000 178/91<br />5 Atsushi Endoh P Kasumigaura HS R/R 04/08/1999 186/74<br />6 Takato Hiraoka P Chubu Gakuin Univ R/R 08/05/1995 185/92<br /><br />i1 Tsubasa Okabayashi P Komono HS (Mie) R/R 08/09/1999 183/85<br />i2 Reira Fujii P Omagari Kogyo HS R/R 09/17/1999 181/86<br />i3 Ken Sasaki P Okasa HS R/R 04/02/1999 189/78<br /></pre><br/><br/>(commentary starts here) <br /><br />I've got my usual set of draft magazines, a whole ton of industrial league info, various high school stuff, and yet I still have no idea what will happen on draft day.&nbsp; There are a few players I have particular interest in; obviously Kohei Miyadai from Todai is the big question for me this year, and I wonder if my submarine boys Rei Takahashi (Senshu) and Yuya Hasegawa (Hosei) will get drafted at all.&nbsp; I also feel like there are more katakana names in the set than usual, such as RHP Brad Makoto Kenma from Nihon Bunri, Deshawn Hiroyuki Satoh (Whitlow?) from Yokohama Shogyodai, Mark Kento Ishida from Ryukoku... the high school set has a Richard Sunagawa who looks like a big kid from Okinawa Shogyo and a Felipe Kisu Desouza who was born in Japan to Brazilian parents.&nbsp; Also Montell Higuma, Julius's brother. <br/><br/>Anyway, hopefully the <a href="http://www.tbs.co.jp/baseball-draft/">TBS stream</a>will actually work this year, who knows.&nbsp; More hopefully, we'll get to see/hear my favorite college catcher and best smile on TV, <a href="http://www.tbs.co.jp/anatsu/who/kiire.html">Tomohiro Kiire</a>, covering the draft for them.&nbsp; He's been tapped many times by their station to talk about Miyadai this semester, and I saw him a few times at Jingu when I was there this fall, so I can only hope :) <br />Otherwise I'll just be watching the picks come in on various news sources such as <a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/professional/draft/2017/">Nikkan Sports</a>&nbsp;as usual.<br /><br /><b>1am!</b>&nbsp; I've got a sketchy but reasonably stable video feed of the draft.&nbsp; Hopefully it'll work :)<br /><br />Let's see, the order people walk in is the draft order:<br /><br />Marines (big deal made about Iguchi coming in as new manager and all)<br />Swallows<br />Fighters<br />Dragons<br />Buffaloes<br />Giants (heh the announcers pointed out how they didn't make the playoffs.)<br />Eagles<br />Baystars (Rami-chan looking dapper and the whole thing about making the series after 19 years whee)<br />Lions<br />Tigers<br />Hawks<br />Carp<br /><br />I would comment how every team is said to want to go after Kiyomiya but seriously I'm so sick of hearing about him I just hope the lottery is quick and painless and then we can get on with our lives :)<br /><br /><b>1:08am:</b> okay, everyone is in there now.&nbsp; Let the fun begin!<br />(by which I really mean there are 6 minutes of commercials and then maybe some fun will begin.&nbsp; sheesh)<br /><br />Okay, everyone's put in their first round picks.&nbsp; And the reveals!<br /><br />Marines: Kotaro Kiyomiya, IF, Waseda Jitsugyo HS<br />Swallows: Kiyomiya<br />Fighters: Kiyomiya (fuuuuuuuuuck)<br />Dragons: Shosei Nakamura, C, Koryo HS<br />Buffaloes: Daiki Tajima, LHP, JR Higashinihon<br />Giants: Kiyomiya<br />Eagles: Kiyomiya<br />Baystars: Katsuki Azuma, LHP, Ritsumeikan Univ<br />Lions: Tajima<br />Tigers: Kiyomiya<br />Hawks: Kiyomiya<br />Carp: Nakamura<br /><br />So that's 7 teams going for Kiyomiya, 2 for Tajima, 2 for Nakamura, and then Azuma goes to the Baystars uncontested.&nbsp; Good for them and for him :)<br /><br />uhhh... I'm sorry for the delay.<br />the Fighters got Kiyomiya, which is my worst fucking nightmare, so I'm stalled a little while I deal with that fact.&nbsp; It's now <b>1:26am</b> and Hiroshima got Nakamura.<br /><br />Orix gets Tajima! Well, that's gonna be a JR East party for sure.<br /><br />Okay, well, second round of the first round about to begin...<br /><br />Marines: Hisanori Yasuda, IF, Riseisha HS<br />Swallows: Munetaka Murakami, C Kyushu Gakuin HS<br />Dragons: Hiroshi Suzuki, RHP, Yamaha<br />Giants: Murakami<br />Eagles: Murakami<br />Lions: Hiromasa Saitoh, LHP, Meiji Univ<br />Tigers: Yasuda<br />Hawks: Yasuda<br /><br />The announcers make a really big deal about which hand Kanemoto puts into the box each time for some reason but... looks like Yasuda is going to Chiba Lotte (it's now <b>1:37am</b>)<br /><br />Giants: Takuya Kuwahara, RHP, Chuo University<br />Eagles: Hiroki Kondoh, RHP, Okayama Shogyo University<br />Tigers: Kosuke Baba, RHP, Sendai University<br />Hawks: Baba (wow, another runoff)<br /><br />(...and the Tigers get Baba, okay)<br /><br />Hawks: Haruto Yoshizumi, RHP, Tsuruoka East HS<br /><br />So the first round is "done" at <b>1:45am.</b>&nbsp; Fun times.&nbsp; Okay, time for me to start filling out the grid.&nbsp; Wake me up when Miyadai gets drafted, okay?<br /><br />Long interview with Kiyomiya, he mentioned how he wants to go to the majors someday, the announcers were like "we hear you're studying English for it, wanna speak some?" and he was like "lol no that would be too embarrassing".<br /><br />sigh<br /><br /><b>2:18am</b> hey, Rakuten just took Masaki Iwami in the second round, I guess that's kind of a good thing, I would rather him be on the Fighters but well you know what happened so...<br /><br />(also while entering data I noticed our second round pick Nishimura is exactly one year older than Kazunari Ishii because I just do that)<br /><br />churning on...<br /><br /><b>2:21am:</b> well my favorite college submariner Rei Takahashi got drafted!<br />...unfortunately, it was by the Hawks.<br /><br />Also uh someone has to tell Rakuten that it is really not fair that they got Keio's Iwami AND Tsuyoshi Yamasaki from Kokugakuin, seriously.<br /><br />So I went headsdown on the grid a whole lot and then at <b>3:20am</b> the Fighters finally took Kohei Miyadai with their final and 7th pick and the entire evening has been worth it even if I'm still kind of bummed about where some people went.&nbsp; It was kind of funny because basically, I was translating, translating, then saw suddenly (24) Twitter and knew exactly what had to have happened (I follow a lot of Todai fans/players, and a lot of Fighters fans, and so there was quite a bit of confluence).&nbsp; Very happy to see it.&nbsp; Now the only question is: will he come to Arizona, and will I get a uniform made before then somehow?&nbsp; (I do feel like there's no real rush; I would be really surprised if he didn't spend a while in Kamagaya next year.)<br /><br /><br />A few stray thoughts as I wrap up for the evening:<br /><br />On the foreign-ish players: Brad Kemna got drafted by the Carp, should be interesting to see how he fits in there, with Allen Kuri and all.&nbsp; That Felipe Kisu Desouza kid I mentioned got taken by the Buffaloes in the ikusei draft, and Ishida Mark Kento went to the Dragons, and Richard Sunagawa to the Hawks.<br /><br />So many Big 6 alumni got drafted from industrial teams that I almost entered their college several times (Fukuda from Meiji-&gt;NTT, Shunsuke Saitoh from Rikkio-&gt;ENEOS, also Naoki Matsumoto Rikkio-&gt;Seino).&nbsp; Super glad to see Akihiro Wakabayashi (Hosei-&gt;ENEOS) got drafted even if it's by the Giants so he is now dead to me.&nbsp; Someone pointed out on Twitter that his college, industrial, and pro teams are all orange-colored, kinda funny.<br /><br />It felt very weird to enter draftees who were born in 2000 for some reason.<br /><br />Several indie/industrial teams had a whole bunch of people taken, like the Ishikawa Million Stars in the BCL, and the NTT corporate teams, and Hitachi and ENEOS and all (well ENEOS always has a bunch, but still).<br /><br />Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-70653711386369065252017-03-09T16:16:00.000-08:002017-03-10T15:55:06.028-08:00Tokyo Big 6 will have a trial Rookie League this semesterTraditionally, the Tokyo Big 6 University League has had a Rookie Tournament at the end of each semester. &nbsp;For the three days following the Waseda-Keio final weekend, there would be three days of this tournament, with each day having two games. &nbsp;The first day would eliminate two teams. &nbsp;The second day would result in two winners and two losers; the two winners would play each other for the championship on the third day, and the two losers would play each other for 3rd place.<br /><br />The rules on who could participate in the tournament was "1st and 2nd years" with no restrictions as far as I know, although in general, the purpose of the tournament was for players who wouldn't normally get playing time in league games to get a chance to play in some real games at Jingu and all, so if a team had a bunch of star freshmen, you wouldn't likely see them in the Rookie games.<br /><br />On the other hand, the Rookie Tournament also gave managers the option to try interesting things -- Megumi Takemoto made her pitching debut at Jingu in the <a href="http://tokyo-bbc.net/big6/99autumn/99autumn_fresh_tr.html">Fall 1999 Rookie Tournament</a>&nbsp;as the first Japanese woman to ever take the mound in a Big 6 game. &nbsp;(The first woman was American Jodi Haller who pitched an inning for Meiji in 1995.) &nbsp;Two years after Takemoto's rookie debut, she would face off against Meiji's "female Matsuzaka", Chihiro Kobayashi, in a <a href="http://www.big6.gr.jp/game/league/2001s/2001s_mt2.html">real league match</a>.<br /><br />Anyway, this year they're going to try something different and do an entire round-robin Rookie League, with 15 games total, each team playing every other team once. &nbsp;These games will be played mostly on weekends before normal Big 6 games, by the same pair of teams that play the first game that day (so you can see two games of Hosei-Waseda on April 9th, for example). &nbsp;The reason for this is mainly that underclassmen wouldn't really get much playing time even in the Rookie tournament, especially if they were on a team that got eliminated on the first day, so this is a way for younger players to get more playing time without sacrificing any playing time for the upperclassmen who are trying to show off in front of scouts and prospective corporate team employers. &nbsp;It's almost like a farm system!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.big6.gr.jp/game/rookie/2017s/2017s_rookie_schedule.html">http://www.big6.gr.jp/game/rookie/2017s/2017s_rookie_schedule.html</a><br /><br />It sounds like for Todai, upperclassmen will be allowed to fill out the team. &nbsp;This is because Todai doesn't have <i>suisen</i>, or "athletic recommendations", as a route to attending the university and participating in sports, unlike the other 5 schools. &nbsp;The other 5 schools will have plenty of freshmen on their roster -- some of whom have been training with the university team since early in February. &nbsp;In a lot of these cases, they are players who played at Koshien or otherwise had bright baseball careers in high school, and were allowed into the university with either a reduced entrance exam or in some cases, no entrance exam at all, especially if they came in through a feeder high school.<br /><br />Keio is the weird case in that everyone who graduates from Keio HS can automatically attend Keio University, although graduating from Keio HS is no small feat. &nbsp;I've also gotten the impression that it's rare for someone to not get into Hosei or Rikkio after graduating from their feeder schools (they just don't have that many). &nbsp;Whereas Waseda has many feeder schools all over the country, and so there's no guarantee that attending one will get you into Waseda.<br /><br />So if you saw a star player at Koshien who didn't go into the draft, and wondered what happened to them, chances are they already got themselves accepted to a top sports college before the normal applications for admission were even open.<br /><br />Todai will get freshmen on their team, once people show up at the university and decide to join the baseball team and all, but it won't be in time for the rookie league.<br /><br />Here's the schedule, translated:<br /><br /><table border="2"><tbody><tr><th>Date</th><th>Start Time</th><th colspan="2">Matches</th><th>Regular Games After?</th></tr><tr><td>4/9 (Sun) </td><td>8:00am </td><td colspan="2">Hosei-Waseda </td><td>H-W, M-T</td></tr><tr><td>4/15 (Sat) </td><td>8:00am </td><td colspan="2">Todai-Keio </td><td>T-K, R-H</td></tr><tr><td>4/16 (Sun) </td><td>8:00am </td><td colspan="2">Rikkio-Hosei </td><td>R-H, T-K</td></tr><tr><td>5/6 (Sat) </td><td>8:00am </td><td colspan="2">Hosei-Keio </td><td>H-K, T-R</td></tr><tr><td>5/7 (Sun) </td><td>8:00am </td><td colspan="2">Todai-Rikkio </td><td>T-R H-K</td></tr><tr><td>5/13 (Sat) </td><td>8:00am </td><td colspan="2">Keio-Meiji </td><td>K-M, R-W</td></tr><tr><td>5/14 (Sun) </td><td>8:00am </td><td colspan="2">Rikkio-Waseda </td><td>R-W, K-M</td></tr><tr><td>5/27 (Sat) </td><td>9:00am </td><td colspan="2">Todai-Meiji </td><td>Soukeisen</td></tr><tr><td>5/28 (Sun) </td><td>9:00am </td><td colspan="2">Keio-Waseda </td><td>Soukeisen</td></tr><tr><td>5/29 (Mon) </td><td>11:00am </td><td>Waseda-Meiji </td><td>Keio-Rikkio </td><td rowspan="3">No, not even Swallows </td></tr><tr><td>5/30 (Tue) </td><td>11:00am </td><td>Todai-Waseda </td><td>Hosei-Meiji </td></tr><tr><td>5/31 (Wed) </td><td>11:00am </td><td>Meiji-Rikkio </td><td>Hosei-Todai </td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Note that if Soukeisen doesn't end in two days, those final games will be rescheduled around a little bit and they'll start having 2-game days whenever Soukeisen ends.</div><div><br /></div><div>It looks like the weekends they are skipping are those with Swallows games at Jingu afterwards (at first I thought it was Golden Week, but then I looked at the Swallows schedule). &nbsp;That makes sense, as sometimes even normal Big 6 games will go way over time and push back the Swallows gate opening time. &nbsp;(Sometimes they let Swallows fans into the outfield while the college games are still going on!)</div><div><br /></div><div>The timing rules for the Rookie League games is:</div><div><ul><li>They only go 9 innings tops</li><li>It's ok if they end in a tie</li><li>Games are valid after 5 innings</li><li>New innings can't start after 1 hour and 50 minutes into the game, on days where there are normal Big 6 games afterwards</li><li>Rainouts after a game has started will not be replayed; rainouts called before the game starts will be rescheduled at the end of the season.</li><li>No tiebreak rules, unlike the normal rookie tournament (which had various tiebreak rules like starting extra innings with runners on base and such).</li></ul><div>Ticket/Seating is as follows:</div></div><div><ul><li>Homeplate Tickets (1500 yen), Infield Tickets (1300 yen), and Student Infield Tickets (800 yen) are sold.</li><li>Outfield tickets, cheering section tickets, and picnic tables are not sold or open for the Rookie games.</li><li>If you have special passes to normal Big 6 games, those work to get into the Rookie League games.</li><li>The normal league games begin immediately after the Rookie league games, so if you enter during the Rookie league game, you can just stay through to the normal league games.</li></ul>I guess if you plan to sit in the outfield, you just don't come to the rookie games. &nbsp;(Aside from Soukeisen, outfield seating for Big 6 games is free for women, children, and seniors, and 800 yen for everyone else.)</div><div><br /></div><div>My only worry is about whether it'll be annoying to get good seating for the normal games without showing up at 8am, since that's awfully early. &nbsp;I usually sit right behind the dugout for college games and take tons of photos, which requires showing up at least a little bit early, but not 3 hours before. &nbsp;I guess we'll see. &nbsp;It'll only affect one or two games for me this spring since I'll only be there for a few weekends anyway.</div>Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-46339114327315687632017-02-12T23:11:00.003-08:002017-02-13T09:54:54.329-08:00Fighters Spring Training in Arizona 2017 Part 3Another day in paradise. &nbsp;Err, Peoria. &nbsp;Paradise is elsewhere in Arizona.<br /><br />Also -- this entry is about camp on February 7th but I'm finishing it up a lot later.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JCdjw0IaAkM/WKEAzzxQGYI/AAAAAAAIMag/Y48tlWfO7rgp0bQJi2aN7X7mYKBwJwVZgCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170207_143210%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JCdjw0IaAkM/WKEAzzxQGYI/AAAAAAAIMag/Y48tlWfO7rgp0bQJi2aN7X7mYKBwJwVZgCLcB/s640/IMG_20170207_143210%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />I had to miss the morning's workouts due to having some work meetings that I have to be at (I've been trying to get work done in the evenings and such when I'm not on the field and not posting photos). &nbsp;I got to the field as quickly as I could in the morning but the pitcher practice had JUST ended and everyone had already gone to lunch. &nbsp;That was sad because I knew that meant I wasn't going to have a chance to take any more decent photos of Kagiya. <br /><br />On the other hand, just as I arrived, Ohtani was brought out to do some kind of throwing, possibly so that the TV shows could get footage of him? &nbsp;It didn't look like he was doing anything strenuous. <br /><br />I got bored of that pretty quickly and wandered around a little. &nbsp;I think they must have had fielders eat a very early lunch, because those guys were starting to filter out for "afternoon" practice already at that point.<br /><br />Some of the pitchers did throw BP for the afternoon batting practice, but it was only one of the groups -- Katoh, Saitoh, Ishikawa, and Takanashi. &nbsp;So at least I got to see some of them pitch a little, but it still wasn't the same. <br /><br />I talked to a few team staffers about the situation with the line jumping and the racists and they said they'd see what they could do, although it wasn't likely to be much.<br /><br />Also in talking to some of the front office guys I found out that Shota Tatsuta sprained his ankle during the second day of camp or so, working out in the bullpen -- he went to catch a ball and rolled his ankle in a hole. &nbsp;Oops. &nbsp;(Of course nobody was making a big deal out of this given that Ohtani was also injured, which is probably just as well.)<br /><br />Matt Winters introduced me to one of his other scout friends, Andrew Lorraine. &nbsp;That was pretty interesting -- I forget how it came up exactly but I mentioned I used to be a Mariners season ticket holder before I moved to Japan, he mentioned having pitched in Tacoma in 2005, and I was feeling like such a dork because I utterly don't remember him being there (despite that I totally remembered that being the season where I was joking about calling this blog "Hunter Brown for Third" to counterbalance the "Leone for Third" blog that eventually became Lookout Landing). &nbsp;Andrew had a lot of entertaining stories to tell, since he's been all over the place. &nbsp;Only later when I looked him up did I also realize he's a coach for Israel's WBC team -- how cool! <br /><br />Dani never showed up through the day, though my friend Dave was there again. &nbsp;A semi-silly thing happened in that I wanted to get a photo with Brandon Laird, and Dave is from Texas, and my brain had a blip -- I mean, I remember that Laird's brother played for the Rangers and Laird himself played for the Astros but in reality their whole family is from California. &nbsp;Anyway, when it looked like Brandon was done with practice I went up and asked Mizuhara to make sure, and then asked Brandon if I could get a photo with him. &nbsp;Sure, no problem. &nbsp;Then I was like "And this is my friend, he came from Texas and wanted to meet you too!" And after that, my friend whose camera lenses I envy dearly,&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/mikaotx">mikaotx</a>, also wanted to get a photo with Laird so I was like "Oh, and this guy is from Texas too!". &nbsp;A few minutes later I was like "...why did I just say you're all from Texas? &nbsp;I'm from California, dammit!"<br /><br />One of my new friends was a Japanese college student girl who's been living in San Diego for the last few years, so she showed up decked out in Padres gear. &nbsp;She was originally from Atsugi and was with a guy who played high school baseball at Atsugi Kita HS, but naturally they were Kanagawa prefecture fans in general, and she had Yokohama HS gloves that she brought with her. &nbsp;Her goal for the day was to meet Takahama, Kondoh, and Asama. &nbsp;When she told me that I was like "Well ok, Takahama is RIGHT THERE..." as he seriously was walking by the field at the moment so she ran over and got him to sign her gloves. &nbsp;But Kondoh was ignoring everyone as usual, and Asama was pretty much nowhere to be found. &nbsp;(She wasn't the only person asking where the hell Asama was -- even Matt Winters asked me at one point "Have you seen Asama anywhere?" and I was like "Only for about 5 minutes the first day I was here...") &nbsp;Every time I saw her she was like "HAVE YOU SEEN ASAMA?", to no avail. &nbsp;On the other hand, her father had been in the baseball club at Joso Gakuin high school and she brought a JG cap that she got Makoto Kaneko (also from Joso) to sign and she was super happy about that.<br /><br />I spent a while talking to the security guards at one point. &nbsp;I learned a few things from them that were interesting, namely:<br /><br /><ul><li>Normal spring training autograph hounding is a bazillion times worse. &nbsp;The fact that people were waiting in line at all for Ohtani was somewhat short of a miracle, apparently. &nbsp;They told me stories about children getting crushed at Autograph Alley and things like having to tell Mike Trout to stop signing in order to avoid any fans getting injured.</li><li>Normal spring training in general is much harder for them! &nbsp;One of the guards said how "I love having you Japanese baseball fans here. &nbsp;I tell you to do something, and you do it! &nbsp;Like, 'Oh, you can't stand here,' and you guys go 'Sorry! &nbsp;My bad' and go away, but during normal spring training if we don't have fences up we can't keep anyone out of forbidden areas."</li><li>With respect to me telling them about the racist stuff the hounds were saying in line, the older guard said how "It's only gotten worse since our current president got elected." &nbsp;I had a bad impression of Peoria last year being a bit of a redneck racist area, and of my non-white friends there getting treated poorly, but I was surprised by the anti-Trump sentiment I heard from some of the locals this year. &nbsp;Arizona only went 49% for Trump, so maybe there's hope for them yet.</li><li>Oh, and John the security guard (who apparently found my blog, hi!) was showing me Ebay listings for Ohtani baseballs -- and funnier, in some of the listings were photos of him as Ohtani's escort, since people would post "proof" photos of the player signing whatever.</li></ul>That last point turned into something sad later that evening, though -- remember I mentioned a guy on Saturday getting a sideways off-the-number awkward Ohtani autograph, that I sort of wished I'd taken a photo of because it was so ridiculous-looking? &nbsp;Well, turns out I didn't need to take a photo of it to see it again, as he is currently listing that uniform, stupid as it looks, on Ebay for $899 or best offer. &nbsp;I showed that to some of my friends who were waiting in line that day and boy, were they pissed. &nbsp;One was even like "That jerk! &nbsp;I lent him my shikishi! &nbsp;I'm never trusting any non-Japanese in camp ever again. &nbsp;No, not you. &nbsp;You don't count, you're pretty much Japanese."<br /><br />Also, you know, I didn't think Yuya Taniguchi understood much English, but at one point he finished practice and called to one of the security guards I was talking to to drive him back to the clubhouse. &nbsp;I saw him get into the cart and joked, "Don't let him drive! &nbsp;He's crazy!" and Taniguchi looked at me with a scowl and said something (in Japanese) like "Wait, WHAT did you just say about my driving?" and I said "Umm... your driving yesterday was... interesting..."<br /><br />Just like morning practice ended early, afternoon practice also ended early. &nbsp;I originally intended to just come over for a little while at the end of morning practice and thought I'd go back to my hotel and eat lunch and get other stuff for camp, but instead I never left, so by the end of the day (by which I mean 2:30pm or so, super early) I still hadn't eaten lunch and also had absolutely nothing with me to get signed -- I didn't even have a pen or a marker in my bag at all. &nbsp;That was totally fine with me though. &nbsp;I'm still not much of an autograph person.<br /><br />I was supposed to help my friend T find rookie Kazunari Ishii since I know his face pretty well after watching him play at Waseda for four years, but first I really needed to get lunch. &nbsp;Dani showed up around then, so she and Dave and I piled into a car and went over to MacAllister's (I thought there was a Subway in the shopping center right by the PSC, and we even went there last year, but it seems to have closed since then) so I could get something quick, so I got a sandwich to bring back to camp. &nbsp;I introduced Dani to the Yokohama HS girl and then I went up to where T was in line, and I spread out my Fighters fan club vinyl sheet a few feet away from the line and started eating my sandwich.<br /><br />Ishii actually came out super-early and I took a picture of T with him. &nbsp;So after that T was like "Ok, you don't need to hang out here anymore if you don't want to" after that, but I was like "Today's my last real day in camp, so I really want to talk to everyone even though I have nothing to get signed..."<br /><br />Mostly, I was trying to find out who was pitching at the game in Mesa. &nbsp;I wasn't sure when the list would be posted, so instead I just asked every pitcher that I got to talk to, "Are you pitching tomorrow? &nbsp;I'm going home after the game in Mesa so...". &nbsp;Yuki Saitoh said "Not tomorrow, the day after tomorrow." &nbsp;Uwasawa said he wouldn't be either. &nbsp;Arihara just pretty much entirely ignored me as usual. &nbsp;Enoshita, who I asked in English, said "I'm a reserve for tomorrow's game, so probably not." &nbsp;Toru Murata came out wearing an Oakland Raiders sweatshirt so I asked him about that before also asking if he was pitching (and he said "No, and I'm not sure when either.")<br /><br />I waited for Kagiya forever, and he also said he wasn't going to be pitching. &nbsp;I told him I was going home after the game and he was like "Oh, that's too bad," and I said "Yeah. &nbsp;Well, see you in Japan again then!" &nbsp;And then he ran off. &nbsp;I barely got to see him this year at training, which is too bad. &nbsp;Last year I talked to him almost every day, which was great.<br /><br />Of course, I later discovered that the Mesa game lineup had been put in the hotel lobby around that time and that Uehara, Yoshida, Tanaka, Iguchi, and Hakumura would be pitching. &nbsp;Oh well.<br /><br />I unfortunately also missed getting a photo with and saying goodbye to Tatsuya Morimoto because of the Ohtani line. &nbsp;I saw the autograph sellers jumping the line again, and this time the Japanese guard was my buddy Yohei (not Kagiya -- a translator for the team who I first met at the 2013 WBC when he was studying in California), so I went up like "I'm not getting anything signed, how about I go stand in back now and you'll know when the line ends?" &nbsp;So I did that -- but a whole bunch of players came out in the time while Ohtani was signing and I didn't get to say hi to any of them, and Tatsuya was in that group.<br /><br />It was a little bit awkward because when Ohtani got to me, expecting to sign something, I just said in Japanese, "Oh, I have nothing. &nbsp;Thanks for coming out." &nbsp;He looked at me funny for a second before Yohei told him that meant the signing line was over.<br /><br />I also didn't get to talk to Good Guy Taishi Ohta again either for the same reason. &nbsp;Alas. &nbsp;Tatsuya is a little more special to me though because he was super-friendly to me at Kamagaya and I'm really hoping he has a breakout year this year. &nbsp;He was the #2 pick in the 2012 draft, between Ohtani and Kagiya, but he's just a big goofy kid who hasn't really found his place on the team yet and has never made an appearance in an ichi-gun game, which is a little ominous after four years, really. &nbsp;Anyway.<br /><br />I went back to sitting with people by the sidewalk area. &nbsp;Most of the Ohtani hounds left at that point, though a few of them stayed around for a while because they had WBC baseballs and wanted to get Shota Ohno's autograph since he's on the WBC team. &nbsp;(I knew Ohno was unlikely to come out through the main line -- the day I caught him, he came out of the parking lot and a few of us recognized him and ran over). &nbsp;They kept looking at me angrily and Dani told me how "Oh, those guys were saying how 'that fucking bitch is out there doing her thing again'." &nbsp;Those guys were still there waiting when I left, even. &nbsp;I'm sorry, guys, but you took a lot of the fun out of the few days I got to spend with my team, so I can't feel too bad denying you a second or third (or in the case of that guy who brings his wife and kids, fifth) autograph on any given day that you're just going to go try to sell for $300.<br /><br />I got a photo with Yushi Shimizu. &nbsp;I probably should have asked more players, but honestly I was kind of exhausted by then anyway. &nbsp;Plus, looking at the <a href="http://www.fighters.co.jp/news/detail/00000005.html">list of who was in Arizona camp</a>, I do have a photo with every player at some point, except for Ohtani. &nbsp;Most are in Kamagaya and such, but whatever. &nbsp;I don't have a few of the coaches like Kawana, Atsuzawa, and sadly Johnny Kuroki, but dude, I got to meet Ryohei Endoh, so that was pretty awesome.<br /><br />Speaking of photos, as usual, since you read this far, here are a whole bunch:<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bxQhtc8jFjk/WKEnRZI9X3I/AAAAAAAIMbQ/GdlBJiPZCf8-eGaD5upLYzHERGIwLI80wCLcB/s1600/050-Ohtani.JPG"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bxQhtc8jFjk/WKEnRZI9X3I/AAAAAAAIMbQ/GdlBJiPZCf8-eGaD5upLYzHERGIwLI80wCLcB/s640/050-Ohtani.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Like I said, he was out there just playing catch, presumably for the media.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KRPawwl67fc/WKEAPcnTduI/AAAAAAAIMYo/OKIzHKB0FKozJPhFZJwTlxZX4PoE2KMgACLcB/s1600/063-OtaKen.JPG"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KRPawwl67fc/WKEAPcnTduI/AAAAAAAIMYo/OKIzHKB0FKozJPhFZJwTlxZX4PoE2KMgACLcB/s640/063-OtaKen.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Kengo Ohta laughing at something one of the coaches was saying.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IRdXf_TfKN4/WKEANVVK3AI/AAAAAAAIMYk/vB5ZcB7amN8ffpV5F3qe-PzBAvz6_dWmgCLcB/s1600/061-Bats.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-IRdXf_TfKN4/WKEANVVK3AI/AAAAAAAIMYk/vB5ZcB7amN8ffpV5F3qe-PzBAvz6_dWmgCLcB/s640/061-Bats.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />So many bats!<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EWmucg4_Ubo/WKEARuJ0k9I/AAAAAAAIMYw/tEAP77JpLMQdr-_XJn5bUl-YmepKqTIyACLcB/s1600/072-Tatsuyasmile.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EWmucg4_Ubo/WKEARuJ0k9I/AAAAAAAIMYw/tEAP77JpLMQdr-_XJn5bUl-YmepKqTIyACLcB/s640/072-Tatsuyasmile.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Tatsuya Morimoto talking to one of the batting pitchers.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-efm21-gnYaM/WKEARbNrhiI/AAAAAAAIMYs/kohnHvhETu4ZFvzIKYY5e8wApJUnWNS7QCLcB/s1600/077-Katoh.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-efm21-gnYaM/WKEARbNrhiI/AAAAAAAIMYs/kohnHvhETu4ZFvzIKYY5e8wApJUnWNS7QCLcB/s640/077-Katoh.JPG" width="424" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eZjMg0hcTTg/WKEATuyy9YI/AAAAAAAIMY0/dUavAmlUtacBQ58Gg-GPktNTq2nkfChJQCLcB/s1600/082-Katoh.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eZjMg0hcTTg/WKEATuyy9YI/AAAAAAAIMY0/dUavAmlUtacBQ58Gg-GPktNTq2nkfChJQCLcB/s640/082-Katoh.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Takayuki Katoh throwing batting practice.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EquSOdqrCWI/WKEAVFsxKEI/AAAAAAAIMY4/PG8lzAOlFLI3MnvYvJpRG9_1AntM3bqBwCLcB/s1600/089-Yoshii.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EquSOdqrCWI/WKEAVFsxKEI/AAAAAAAIMY4/PG8lzAOlFLI3MnvYvJpRG9_1AntM3bqBwCLcB/s640/089-Yoshii.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Pitching coach Masato Yoshii<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWgtW5J6PXc/WKEAVSjuhyI/AAAAAAAIMY8/JzIebev_zdoXU34Xu_gNOHPkyDyEK54vgCLcB/s1600/091-Ishiryo.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eWgtW5J6PXc/WKEAVSjuhyI/AAAAAAAIMY8/JzIebev_zdoXU34Xu_gNOHPkyDyEK54vgCLcB/s640/091-Ishiryo.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />All-around cool kid Ryo Ishikawa<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0ftnnslzhaU/WKEAXy9VPfI/AAAAAAAIMZA/lqWvbGAH4qgrtlp7DQ0fiqrKIiTUaPUMwCLcB/s1600/104-Saitoh.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0ftnnslzhaU/WKEAXy9VPfI/AAAAAAAIMZA/lqWvbGAH4qgrtlp7DQ0fiqrKIiTUaPUMwCLcB/s640/104-Saitoh.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Yuki Saitoh also was pitching batting practice<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X3xKhBOsvuY/WKEAcI5n6HI/AAAAAAAIMZQ/dl5sD8q6Ejkf_26a9R41WQd89pVZI4FugCLcB/s1600/135-Takahamabunt.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X3xKhBOsvuY/WKEAcI5n6HI/AAAAAAAIMZQ/dl5sD8q6Ejkf_26a9R41WQd89pVZI4FugCLcB/s640/135-Takahamabunt.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Yuto Takahama doing bunting practice<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fO7s7JEJfTM/WKEAcLy4V6I/AAAAAAAIMZU/wk55lwlC4v8Cl3EPyO-VOHLdIsUti0zlQCLcB/s1600/138-Go.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fO7s7JEJfTM/WKEAcLy4V6I/AAAAAAAIMZU/wk55lwlC4v8Cl3EPyO-VOHLdIsUti0zlQCLcB/s640/138-Go.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />There was also a toss batting area in the back. &nbsp;Here's Go Matsumoto taking swings.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vqMVWIhsPOs/WKEAa9YWZrI/AAAAAAAIMZM/EEhWPTbkRj48KvMSzG9O847VKtdwPeYdwCLcB/s1600/145-Kaneko.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vqMVWIhsPOs/WKEAa9YWZrI/AAAAAAAIMZM/EEhWPTbkRj48KvMSzG9O847VKtdwPeYdwCLcB/s640/145-Kaneko.JPG" width="426" /></a><br />The most special coach of all, Makoto Kaneko<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AbmiN9kWoVU/WKEAg8ROL2I/AAAAAAAIMZg/aQtIk5SajQ4oGuJ4lvjrWdP6PXwyB_eqACLcB/s1600/155-Brandon.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AbmiN9kWoVU/WKEAg8ROL2I/AAAAAAAIMZg/aQtIk5SajQ4oGuJ4lvjrWdP6PXwyB_eqACLcB/s640/155-Brandon.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Brandon Laird<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jj5VIiKmW-0/WKEAgvSJzHI/AAAAAAAIMZc/vYNNE9BHpK8TjFolR-6YlgGMqWt_z3q6gCLcB/s1600/172-Atsusawa%253F.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jj5VIiKmW-0/WKEAgvSJzHI/AAAAAAAIMZc/vYNNE9BHpK8TjFolR-6YlgGMqWt_z3q6gCLcB/s640/172-Atsusawa%253F.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Pitching coach Kazuyuki Atsuzawa<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DtJeXkbRtww/WKEAiS4-SHI/AAAAAAAIMZk/KJlxsBAQdiwddKPBk0b5d8egN4c_uugfgCLcB/s1600/173-Otsukasmile.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DtJeXkbRtww/WKEAiS4-SHI/AAAAAAAIMZk/KJlxsBAQdiwddKPBk0b5d8egN4c_uugfgCLcB/s640/173-Otsukasmile.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Recently retired and now batting pitcher Yutaka Ohtsuka<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eRJjviybwwc/WKEAinroAhI/AAAAAAAIMZo/sgcxGqSmOcYvuyFBBGkw9WMLVolBtowlgCLcB/s1600/175-Oshimoto.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eRJjviybwwc/WKEAinroAhI/AAAAAAAIMZo/sgcxGqSmOcYvuyFBBGkw9WMLVolBtowlgCLcB/s640/175-Oshimoto.JPG" width="426" /></a><br />Former fan favorite for the Fighters and Swallows, Takehiko Oshimoto (also BP pitcher)<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bfDR-LzONUg/WKEAkbBYa4I/AAAAAAAIMZw/c9oPM661CsID-EoW5hAL8l-JU9HgT8RVwCLcB/s1600/183-ShinjiHichori.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bfDR-LzONUg/WKEAkbBYa4I/AAAAAAAIMZw/c9oPM661CsID-EoW5hAL8l-JU9HgT8RVwCLcB/s640/183-ShinjiHichori.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Shinji Takahashi and Hichori Morimoto chatting -- 10 years ago these guys wore #2 and #1 for the Fighters<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4zrDfu4Ivs/WKEAkMqC1BI/AAAAAAAIMZs/RArutPwGktMRdapgTkkPg2vBGL3UzU9ugCLcB/s1600/184-Hiromi.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W4zrDfu4Ivs/WKEAkMqC1BI/AAAAAAAIMZs/RArutPwGktMRdapgTkkPg2vBGL3UzU9ugCLcB/s640/184-Hiromi.JPG" width="426" /></a><br />I actually caught Hiromi Oka smiling, is that allowed?<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--tV8RBnIOY0/WKEAm3oNfjI/AAAAAAAIMZ0/rxxNcV6Uw6UPelR4bMZ15WU5mLQRYTMgACLcB/s1600/191-Kishisato.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--tV8RBnIOY0/WKEAm3oNfjI/AAAAAAAIMZ0/rxxNcV6Uw6UPelR4bMZ15WU5mLQRYTMgACLcB/s640/191-Kishisato.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Ryosuke Kishisato getting ready for BP<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K5Z7pYBBLwc/WKEAnzxBsII/AAAAAAAIMZ8/wN2xy4HRrnUfU31Ky-pHrmgD2fwg0fg4gCLcB/s1600/206-Guys.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K5Z7pYBBLwc/WKEAnzxBsII/AAAAAAAIMZ8/wN2xy4HRrnUfU31Ky-pHrmgD2fwg0fg4gCLcB/s640/206-Guys.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Kazunari Ishii, Kengo Ohta, and Yuto Takahama leaving fielding practice<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4E_QrwHOfU/WKEAnFYY_zI/AAAAAAAIMZ4/vJ-0HAm-deMN-SfEmCd0qj3QwpYvXKiIgCLcB/s1600/217-Shimizu.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q4E_QrwHOfU/WKEAnFYY_zI/AAAAAAAIMZ4/vJ-0HAm-deMN-SfEmCd0qj3QwpYvXKiIgCLcB/s640/217-Shimizu.JPG" width="426" /></a><br />Yushi Shimizu looking particularly ominous (he is a big kid for a catcher)<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5BTPrhoMFGg/WKEArcCs3zI/AAAAAAAIMaA/v7twIeK70LQsvbkDjcjKq1h4impqKf46gCLcB/s1600/228-KanekoBP.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5BTPrhoMFGg/WKEArcCs3zI/AAAAAAAIMaA/v7twIeK70LQsvbkDjcjKq1h4impqKf46gCLcB/s640/228-KanekoBP.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Makoto Kaneko throwing batting practice<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-91PXQlEn19o/WKEArUQ_z5I/AAAAAAAIMaE/0qn7c4BczDwwJT9ranBlfsjSzqbFw4VIwCLcB/s1600/257-YamamotoBP.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-91PXQlEn19o/WKEArUQ_z5I/AAAAAAAIMaE/0qn7c4BczDwwJT9ranBlfsjSzqbFw4VIwCLcB/s640/257-YamamotoBP.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Kazunori Yamamoto throwing batting practice<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J1Mo3Nkw1Ds/WKEArmAOtII/AAAAAAAIMaI/H9U3IYYUUZkUHCqOo_IyBY35Akjk1bQTwCLcB/s1600/263-Haruki.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J1Mo3Nkw1Ds/WKEArmAOtII/AAAAAAAIMaI/H9U3IYYUUZkUHCqOo_IyBY35Akjk1bQTwCLcB/s640/263-Haruki.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />UNLEASH THE HARUKI<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5_B91pnFPW8/WKEAyD0knqI/AAAAAAAIMaY/SPQP0V_MYXUed8jgHB10rjJvXytdiL9ggCLcB/s1600/271-Kantoku.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5_B91pnFPW8/WKEAyD0knqI/AAAAAAAIMaY/SPQP0V_MYXUed8jgHB10rjJvXytdiL9ggCLcB/s640/271-Kantoku.JPG" width="424" /></a> <br />Manager Hideki Kuriyama just hanging out and looking cool.<br /><br />And two-shots. &nbsp;These are all taken with my phone because my little camera broke so they do kind of suck, but whatever. &nbsp;I'll probably get a new IXY or whatever the equivalent is now next time I'm in Japan.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ChZAns-iUrQ/WKEAusj4nGI/AAAAAAAIMaM/T6uw3sF_64IDxRiSiD0yaL2F9oyr-w3owCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170207_133323%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ChZAns-iUrQ/WKEAusj4nGI/AAAAAAAIMaM/T6uw3sF_64IDxRiSiD0yaL2F9oyr-w3owCLcB/s400/IMG_20170207_133323%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Brandon Laird! &nbsp;Not from Texas!<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EsbKmFS1rVY/WKEAvoOZIgI/AAAAAAAIMaQ/ZY-9Gwg2PJ4HTMew79fyHieMsne1WHwWwCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170207_141306%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EsbKmFS1rVY/WKEAvoOZIgI/AAAAAAAIMaQ/ZY-9Gwg2PJ4HTMew79fyHieMsne1WHwWwCLcB/s400/IMG_20170207_141306%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Kenshi Sugiya finally wasn't too busy to hang out for a second!<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2otdOcRMIh0/WKEAxnlydPI/AAAAAAAIMaU/bkCtkqK7eHECKGZ7lt-7pLYu8Jpv7WoLQCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170207_142442%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2otdOcRMIh0/WKEAxnlydPI/AAAAAAAIMaU/bkCtkqK7eHECKGZ7lt-7pLYu8Jpv7WoLQCLcB/s400/IMG_20170207_142442%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Makoto Kaneko is still so cool<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s0h34xAOzi8/WKEAzPQ2_WI/AAAAAAAIMac/DGAhXPUY1IIFtHvV5JZsOAJ3-0noy4pIwCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170207_142819%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-s0h34xAOzi8/WKEAzPQ2_WI/AAAAAAAIMac/DGAhXPUY1IIFtHvV5JZsOAJ3-0noy4pIwCLcB/s400/IMG_20170207_142819%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />I said to Yamamoto, "Can we get a photo together for nostalgia's sake? &nbsp;My friends at Kamagaya will get a kick out of it."<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVB67qlaTu4/WKEA0qCnpJI/AAAAAAAIMak/O38YKJxv4UkA1zB53RbZ_hZ6xyAy60rxQCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170207_174915%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HVB67qlaTu4/WKEA0qCnpJI/AAAAAAAIMak/O38YKJxv4UkA1zB53RbZ_hZ6xyAy60rxQCLcB/s400/IMG_20170207_174915%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Yushi Shimizu really is a big kid! &nbsp;Always so quiet and serious but I think he's going to be a fantastic player in the future.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-57536768334596174962017-02-07T19:30:00.000-08:002017-02-13T09:50:37.548-08:00Fighters Spring Training 2017 Part Two - A Cold Day in PeoriaToday was actually a pretty fun day overall, but it was tainted by one or two awful people who kind of ruined all the fun for us.<br /><br />Weather today was supposed to be sunny and in the 70's, but it was cloudy and never got out of the low 60's, so most of my photos I took today aren't that great. &nbsp;I went back to my hotel to get a jacket during lunch, even.<br /><br />Also, there were Padres players working out on some of the nearer fields! &nbsp;I had no idea they'd be there, although I also had no idea who any of them were anyway.<br /><br />Camp menu for the day (honestly they look almost identical every day aside from which players are in which practice groups):<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXdF3TVs-jo/WJoKsn-t6DI/AAAAAAAIMNY/iDwwwM8opBsqBsCmMmsjjrm_H9-dOLwbQCEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_101644%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qXdF3TVs-jo/WJoKsn-t6DI/AAAAAAAIMNY/iDwwwM8opBsqBsCmMmsjjrm_H9-dOLwbQCEw/s640/IMG_20170206_101644%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />I ran into a group of fans who I'd met at Kamagaya a few years ago -- they remembered me because I caught one of the postgame photo shoot passes that day and gave it to them so I could go stalk rookies outside the clubhouse instead. &nbsp;I also accidentally made friends with a woman who I thought was one of my Twitter friends. &nbsp;She wasn't then, but she is now! &nbsp;They were having a lovely little mini-picnic with Japanese food prepared by one of the locals and invited me and Dani to partake, which was nice.<br /><br />My real goal for the morning was to get photos with the non-Japanese players. &nbsp;Specifically, I hadn't met Edwin Escobar before, and I knew that once those guys finished their morning routines that we weren't going to see them again for the rest of the day. &nbsp;But Chris Martin and Luis Mendoza are such super nice guys anyway (Edwin was nice too!) that I ended up getting photos with all three! &nbsp;Dani was wearing her Ikemendoza t-shirt, and Luis was like "Cool shirt!" so she got him to sign it.<br /><br />I wasn't able to actually watch the bullpen session though because they have it blocked off from sight. &nbsp;The place is full of media and team staff, but fans are stuck on the other side of an opaque gate. &nbsp;I snuck one or two shots in while a security guard pretended he didn't see me sneaking up to the side, but that was about it. &nbsp;Matt had been telling me to watch Edwin's bullpen session, and of course I couldn't see it.<br /><br />An absolutely crazy thing that happened during the morning was that Dan Evans was around in camp again (we've been Twitter friends for years and met during last year's camp), and the folks from HTB wanted to interview them. &nbsp;However, since the non-Japanese players had left, none of the interpreters were around. &nbsp;So they asked *me* to interpret for him. &nbsp;Yikes! &nbsp;Their interview was very very Ohtani and WBC centric though, and Dan was very specific that he was there to see *every* player, that he tries to understand who everyone is in the NPB and KBO. &nbsp;He also said that he expects Japan to do just fine in the WBC. &nbsp;The only part that was super hard to translate was that he said he has a lot of respect for Japanese baseball and for the Fighters as a team, and that he thinks their biggest strength is their fresh way of thinking. &nbsp;I know what he means -- bringing the team to Arizona, signing people like Toru Murata, etc. &nbsp;But it's sort of a tough concept to explain in Japanese, and I felt very awkward.<br /><br />On the other hand, a little while later, Dan introduced me to Ryohei Endoh, who I've wanted to meet absolutely forever. &nbsp;He was Todai's ace in the late 1990's, and he was the 4th player to ever go pro out of Todai, being drafted by the Fighters in 1999. &nbsp;He's basically a legend to anyone who cares about their team at all. &nbsp;He's been working for the Fighters front office ever since he retired as a player. &nbsp;Of course, I don't think I said anything remotely intelligent to him, but I did gush about how I cheer for Todai and all.<br /><br />The fields cleared out pretty quickly this time at lunch, so we headed out, but at the kiosk we ran into my friend Dave who I hadn't seen in person in around 10 years, and we also ran into Dan Evans again, with one of his students from his baseball course, and ended up talking to them for a while.<br /><br />I came back in the afternoon, but it was still cloudy and cold. &nbsp;We watched batting/running practice for a while (they were practicing hit-and-run and sac fly plays) and chilled out. &nbsp;I did get a photo with Naoto Inada, since he was hanging out inbetween his TV shoots. &nbsp;(We saw Inada, Tateyama, and Nishizaki all filming for various TV programs.) &nbsp;It was exciting to meet him since he was such a funny part of the 2006 championship team.<br /><br />Anyway, things started winding down with fielding practice, so we (at this point me, Dani, and Dave) headed out to the clubhouse to go stalk players. &nbsp;My goal for the afternoon was to get as many signatures on my shinkansen jersey as possible, and also to hopefully meet rookie Ishii, and maybe ask Arihara for a photo again, and anyone else I hadn't gotten yet.<br /><br />But of course there was yet another insane line of people trying to get Ohtani's autograph outside the Peoria clubhouse. &nbsp;There were so many people, and even the media was into it; I got to talking with two guys from Nikkan Sports and from Doshin Sports, like "I'm not in the Ohtani line, I'm going to take pictures of the craziness with you guys." &nbsp;I made a point of staying over to the other side of the area.<br /><br />Something funny: I was trying to get my jersey signed, and at one point Konsuke, Morimoto, and Taishi Ohta came by on their way to the hotel, and I asked if they'd sign. &nbsp;Tatsuya was like yeah, but Konsuke was like no, we're too busy, come on. &nbsp;Taishi said sure, but on the way back. &nbsp;On their way back, I asked again, Konsuke ignored me, Tatsuya apologized and promised he'd get me later.<br /><br />Taishi asked me, "What the crap is with this huge line of people here anyway?"<br /><br />I'm like "They're here to get Ohtani's autograph."<br /><br />"Really? &nbsp;That's all just for Ohtani? &nbsp;What are you doing over here then?"<br /><br />"Well, I'm here to meet the whole team, not just Ohtani, so that's why I'm over here."<br /><br />He laughed and motioned me to give him the jersey, and he signed it. &nbsp;I think Good Guy Taishi Ohta is winning over a lot of us who were pissed off about Shingo Ishikawa getting traded.<br /><br />Lots of other guys came out in the meantime. &nbsp;Tatsuta, Katoh. &nbsp;Hakumura. &nbsp;Even Uehara and Yagi signed my jersey, and then Kumon, Kagiya and Arihara (and Arihara actually took a photo with me!!!1!!1)<br /><br />(Though a sad thing is that my friend dropped my IXY point-and-shoot camera after I got a photo with Kumon and now the lens is totally stuck, so the rest of my photos were with my phone.)<br /><br />Yoshida and Iguchi came out together, and Shota Ohno came out separately and a bit further away from where everyone was, but a few people stopped him and then a line formed. &nbsp;I hadn't spoken to Ohno yet so I got him to sign my jersey and I thanked him for coming to the US again this year too.<br /><br />Oh yeah, it was Naoyuki Uwasawa's birthday. &nbsp;So I gave him the card I got him, and Dani gave him a present, and many other people gave him presents too, and one set of people had a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY banner so they put that out and everyone sang happy birthday to him! &nbsp;That was kind of crazy.<br /><br />Dani and I ran over to talk to Enoshita. &nbsp;He speaks pretty good English (his wife is a nisei from California I believe) and it was funny because he said to Dani how "Hey, I remember you, you came to Nago?" and all, and then I was like "Wait, you don't remember me? &nbsp;I used to annoy you at Kamagaya all the damn time," and he said "Oh... like 3 or 4 years ago?" "Yeah." "Oh, okay, sure." &nbsp;Dani mentioned later that she used to tweet at Enoshita a lot back in the day so that's probably also why he remembered her better.<br /><br />Got Taniguchi and then also our rookie Ishii! &nbsp;Yay!<br /><br />At this point I was basically standing at the back of the Ohtani line, and that's about when Ohtani and his entourage came out, at 5:30 or so. &nbsp;Dani and Dave came over and brought my backpack and jacket over too so that I didn't have to leave them sitting at the other side of the parking lot. &nbsp;Probably a good thing given that the non-Japanese people were likely to just take off afterwards and also likely to steal something like that.<br /><br />As mentioned in Saturday's entry, protocol this year has been that that Ohtani will sign for everyone in line. I'm not sure how they handled this on Saturday, but, today a bunch of the autograph hound dudebros were getting one thing signed and then trying to get back in line to get a second thing signed. So a group of Japanese women were pissed off about this and basically ran to where we were at the back of the line, made a group together behind us, and said "We're the end of the line. Anyone behind us is trying to get seconds."<br /><br />So this one guy -- the one who left his folding chair out on Saturday and came back to get it today, even -- he first tried to cut back in line, and when people were like "No cutting, you already got an autograph," he tried to give a second ball to somebody who was still in line. And the group of Japanese women were like "What the hell are you doing?" And even I was like "Dude, do you not understand how this works? He only signs for everyone because we're in an orderly line without people pulling this kind of shit. &nbsp;He used to be on a signing limit, and you guys are lucky that limit has become 'everyone in the line' because he's injured right now."<br /><br />The guy said "Oh, I'm just asking this guy for an autograph here. See? Why are you so angry about that? Mr. [friend], will you sign my ball?"<br /><br />I'm like "Yeah right. You're so full of shit."<br /><br />He's like "You just don't understand a joke." &nbsp;Then to his friend, "C'mon, sign this."<br /><br />His friend takes his pen and slowly and deliberately writes on the cardboard ball box,<br /><br />F U C K<br />Y O U<br />J A P S<br /><br />and he and his cronies crack up and high-five and stuff.<br /><br />Meanwhile I swear to fucking god Ohtani is still making his way through this line and signing for these assholes anyway.<br /><br />Fortunately, I've become buddies with Ohtani's security guards (no, seriously, I got to talking with one of them before I even knew that was his assignment, last year at camp) so when they got up to me I told the guard, "Some guys are causing trouble by getting back in line once they get one signature. Those Japanese ladies here are the end of the line, and anyone behind them is cheating."<br /><br />He was like "I thought some of these people looked familiar. Thanks for telling me."<br /><br />The Japanese women also were saying in Japanese, "Ohtani-kun, these people already got your signature, please don't sign anymore, we'll see you tomorrow".<br /><br />And they cut off the signing there.<br /><br />Those guys were really angry at us, but seriously, WTF? They're the ones invading our little family just so they can get something signed and put it on Ebay for $300 or whatever. They don't even say "please" or "thank you" or anything when he signs for them, and they don't care about anyone else except for him. It's awful. The only good part is getting to hang out with the rest of the team AFTER they all leave (which they do immediately after Ohtani stops signing).<br /><br />We stayed out there a bit longer and I got Takanashi, Konsuke, Shimizu, and even Sugiya to sign. &nbsp;I wanted a photo with Sugiya but he said he was too busy.<br /><br />A crew from NHK was doing a special about Ohtani and so they filmed Dave (who gave them good answers) and then gave up on filming me (because I was like "Ohtani is great, but I mean, one man does not a team make, everyone else is important too, you know...")<br /><br />The three of us decided to go get dinner, although as we were preparing to leave, Tatsuya Morimoto finally came back out, like "ok, now I can sign for you," so he did. &nbsp;And we chatted with him a bit. &nbsp;He was asking Dani why she has purple hair and things (though he said he thought it was cute). &nbsp;But he also said he was super duper tired and we were like "dude, go back to the hotel and sleep!" and so he was like "okay! &nbsp;I sleep! &nbsp;SEE YOU TOMORROW!"<br /><br />Anyway, again, if you read this far, here, have a few more photos from the day.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rwlUayfWymY/WJoKtAXy8aI/AAAAAAAIMNY/ogWrsDTbkk4B6Wpmtd84tJNg3Nd4yBKtgCEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_101705%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rwlUayfWymY/WJoKtAXy8aI/AAAAAAAIMNY/ogWrsDTbkk4B6Wpmtd84tJNg3Nd4yBKtgCEw/s640/IMG_20170206_101705%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />Padres players warming up on one of the other practice fields.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9MSfUz1fgE/WJoKgPURI2I/AAAAAAAIMNY/1_ii8CaxceganJwew5JJJD76H3w0ElnwgCEw/s1600/065-Tateyama.JPG"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x9MSfUz1fgE/WJoKgPURI2I/AAAAAAAIMNY/1_ii8CaxceganJwew5JJJD76H3w0ElnwgCEw/s640/065-Tateyama.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />At first we thought Tateyama was coming over towards us but it turned out he was just getting a good angle to do his TV broadcast from.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VekAnwrzbds/WJoKhobRHqI/AAAAAAAIMNY/4b4kBJaIfDEblrcEonGNWD8sfd-hsRNjQCEw/s1600/077-Escobar.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VekAnwrzbds/WJoKhobRHqI/AAAAAAAIMNY/4b4kBJaIfDEblrcEonGNWD8sfd-hsRNjQCEw/s640/077-Escobar.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Edwin Escobar<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kOPekL0wms/WJoKg18qWqI/AAAAAAAIMNY/nuU8nxsthUAZrJHPQKmZAFRsf3Du5GJUwCEw/s1600/096-Driving.JPG"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6kOPekL0wms/WJoKg18qWqI/AAAAAAAIMNY/nuU8nxsthUAZrJHPQKmZAFRsf3Du5GJUwCEw/s640/096-Driving.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />I'm still amazed anyone lets the players drive, but here is Taniguchi driving and everyone else holding on for dear life.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ywe5IMKlc8/WJoKlssDlJI/AAAAAAAIMNY/hKlBF4fnbdAY804QXYDrhVvM0E_CxiKxgCEw/s1600/DSC_0005%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4ywe5IMKlc8/WJoKlssDlJI/AAAAAAAIMNY/hKlBF4fnbdAY804QXYDrhVvM0E_CxiKxgCEw/s640/DSC_0005%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />During batting/fielding, this sign was up -- each player gets 5 hits. &nbsp;They had to hit to the opposite field, then they had to do a hit-and-run, then a sac fly, then free shots (swing away!)<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oHWfAO-lDCc/WJoKmOwtyRI/AAAAAAAIMNY/ahvpcaA-9o02YaN7dDZoBTg-skfptIU7gCEw/s1600/DSC_0006%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oHWfAO-lDCc/WJoKmOwtyRI/AAAAAAAIMNY/ahvpcaA-9o02YaN7dDZoBTg-skfptIU7gCEw/s640/DSC_0006%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Good Guy Taishi Ohta<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-afjClx2GcIM/WJoKmdXed_I/AAAAAAAIMNY/k-oQVY-YeaUt5YpY8wcEKVKOe_dNZtqvwCEw/s1600/DSC_0010%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-afjClx2GcIM/WJoKmdXed_I/AAAAAAAIMNY/k-oQVY-YeaUt5YpY8wcEKVKOe_dNZtqvwCEw/s640/DSC_0010%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Grumpyface Haruki Nishikawa<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uq_3ltd2J1k/WJoKqO3esoI/AAAAAAAIMNY/46M6c9RPkwsMwiIem5PBXbvOaRbevQAcwCEw/s1600/DSC_0018%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uq_3ltd2J1k/WJoKqO3esoI/AAAAAAAIMNY/46M6c9RPkwsMwiIem5PBXbvOaRbevQAcwCEw/s640/DSC_0018%2Bcopy.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />The Elusive Daiki Asama<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3WYMQtqWZZY/WJoKrPn4D8I/AAAAAAAIMNY/0S89cnztfzQAr46ACNCtNCVG60mD9ZqbACEw/s1600/DSC_0022%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3WYMQtqWZZY/WJoKrPn4D8I/AAAAAAAIMNY/0S89cnztfzQAr46ACNCtNCVG60mD9ZqbACEw/s640/DSC_0022%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Nishizaki-san was also very busy reporting from camp<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eNznAsQmE_A/WJoKph3j_UI/AAAAAAAIMNY/E6uLsc3kAWEbcRjhTuyNsXxlGhWJ4D-YQCEw/s1600/DSC_0024%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eNznAsQmE_A/WJoKph3j_UI/AAAAAAAIMNY/E6uLsc3kAWEbcRjhTuyNsXxlGhWJ4D-YQCEw/s640/DSC_0024%2Bcopy.JPG" width="426" /></a><br />Shinji Takahashi is like "Why are you taking my photo?"<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SiW7AZkUWYc/WJoKx1fGD6I/AAAAAAAIMNY/80nvZjgBmwQsarihJKNsGpJypNus3OA9wCEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_163449%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SiW7AZkUWYc/WJoKx1fGD6I/AAAAAAAIMNY/80nvZjgBmwQsarihJKNsGpJypNus3OA9wCEw/s640/IMG_20170206_163449%2Bcopy.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />It was Uwasawa's birthday, and some people brought a big Happy Birthday banner and we all sang for him!<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B9xy9ERcxio/WJoK1rbqjJI/AAAAAAAIMNY/SRg3I4mb5aQtv-8S_dgeFGArLavrAeQRgCEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_173106%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-B9xy9ERcxio/WJoK1rbqjJI/AAAAAAAIMNY/SRg3I4mb5aQtv-8S_dgeFGArLavrAeQRgCEw/s640/IMG_20170206_173106%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />My friend Dave gets interviewed by the NHK crew doing a special on Ohtani.<br /><br />And of course because you clearly haven't been subjected to enough two-shots of me, here's some more! <br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zokv741uKek/WJoLF0soehI/AAAAAAAIMNM/oDZv6Tr2V2UOICk0prC_HIVuarfdtjXaQCEw/s1600/IMG_7292%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zokv741uKek/WJoLF0soehI/AAAAAAAIMNM/oDZv6Tr2V2UOICk0prC_HIVuarfdtjXaQCEw/s400/IMG_7292%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Todai legendary pitcher and Fighters front office man Ryohei Endoh. &nbsp;I've wanted to meet him forever.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Os_Q9Maxkrs/WJoK-3vU3_I/AAAAAAAIMNY/vEMoWU9u6nYEvVAwg1sN2R--WFlspWujACEw/s1600/IMG_7285%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Os_Q9Maxkrs/WJoK-3vU3_I/AAAAAAAIMNY/vEMoWU9u6nYEvVAwg1sN2R--WFlspWujACEw/s400/IMG_7285%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Chris Martin<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNaXNfdsXjo/WJoLAS35eXI/AAAAAAAIMNE/oKUdIDlcDlIZ3vYM_DoboZnW0fYj834FgCEw/s1600/IMG_7287%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNaXNfdsXjo/WJoLAS35eXI/AAAAAAAIMNE/oKUdIDlcDlIZ3vYM_DoboZnW0fYj834FgCEw/s400/IMG_7287%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Luis Mendoza<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAyhCfwFBLc/WJoK7qZZ21I/AAAAAAAIMNY/4vF3M1SLUC83co7M2eNhUgVbasp9IsOpACEw/s1600/IMG_7286%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EAyhCfwFBLc/WJoK7qZZ21I/AAAAAAAIMNY/4vF3M1SLUC83co7M2eNhUgVbasp9IsOpACEw/s400/IMG_7286%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />The new guy Edwin Escobar!<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a1M0-xzzOMw/WJoLGQ0eAAI/AAAAAAAIMNQ/tHQ5DQ7l0-UQmncG-vFNKishIwrJjPMxwCEw/s1600/IMG_7294%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a1M0-xzzOMw/WJoLGQ0eAAI/AAAAAAAIMNQ/tHQ5DQ7l0-UQmncG-vFNKishIwrJjPMxwCEw/s400/IMG_7294%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Naoto Inada, still makes us all laugh<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqRC8sIC6Vk/WJoKwmkkfEI/AAAAAAAIMNY/_2KTTYa4J2giYM2pfqUiEHA16uS0Iq98QCEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_120309%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqRC8sIC6Vk/WJoKwmkkfEI/AAAAAAAIMNY/_2KTTYa4J2giYM2pfqUiEHA16uS0Iq98QCEw/s400/IMG_20170206_120309%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Matt Winters was so super-helpful to me in camp this year again<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eqv4xjWGRVE/WJoKxebWH9I/AAAAAAAIMNY/ZQlqVJNRKmAhYCKLyWzmdDe1wz_HFhPiACEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_163426%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eqv4xjWGRVE/WJoKxebWH9I/AAAAAAAIMNY/ZQlqVJNRKmAhYCKLyWzmdDe1wz_HFhPiACEw/s400/IMG_20170206_163426%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Kohei Arihara (still hates me)<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pdtL6e4CNnc/WJoKzwhV8PI/AAAAAAAIMNY/qunKzeLUW24iiGKjW2mveilVa7xQIJERgCEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_163849%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pdtL6e4CNnc/WJoKzwhV8PI/AAAAAAAIMNY/qunKzeLUW24iiGKjW2mveilVa7xQIJERgCEw/s400/IMG_20170206_163849%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Yodai Enoshita! &nbsp;His English has gotten so much better over the years, I can talk to him for real now.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1jOMjjMz3hQ/WJoLHZgTo-I/AAAAAAAIMNU/bFaKW1mo-WsMY6U5S6_zNo-Z4D-Voi6JQCEw/s1600/IMG_7296%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1jOMjjMz3hQ/WJoLHZgTo-I/AAAAAAAIMNU/bFaKW1mo-WsMY6U5S6_zNo-Z4D-Voi6JQCEw/s400/IMG_7296%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Katsuhiko Kumon (the pitcher we got in return for Yoshikawa from the Giants)<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UcC6Jj_WY4w/WJoK1vDrzLI/AAAAAAAIMNY/TNLF2FnfUskI9NzzMCN06jJljpop-1ybACEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_171654%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UcC6Jj_WY4w/WJoK1vDrzLI/AAAAAAAIMNY/TNLF2FnfUskI9NzzMCN06jJljpop-1ybACEw/s400/IMG_20170206_171654%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Kazunari Ishii, the only rookie in camp! &nbsp;(And former Waseda captain.)<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v_HT8mOOOyw/WJoK23cyAQI/AAAAAAAIMNY/UAtlMHHe4gYg8PoDOgKvlKsoxMZy5JE0ACEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_211332%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v_HT8mOOOyw/WJoK23cyAQI/AAAAAAAIMNY/UAtlMHHe4gYg8PoDOgKvlKsoxMZy5JE0ACEw/s400/IMG_20170206_211332%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />You know, I think maybe people were right about getting the uniform signed with the wide side of the marker instead of the thin side... :(<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W6gJbaiW9Sk/WJoK6mPz_RI/AAAAAAAIMNY/qX0K4iwZOy8lM2NEGhlAiV8e6VZGomVhACEw/s1600/IMG_20170206_211355%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-W6gJbaiW9Sk/WJoK6mPz_RI/AAAAAAAIMNY/qX0K4iwZOy8lM2NEGhlAiV8e6VZGomVhACEw/s400/IMG_20170206_211355%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />...because as you can see these are awfully faint. &nbsp;Though it looks fine in person.<br /><br />Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-36324645154270745252017-02-05T23:52:00.000-08:002017-02-06T01:53:33.286-08:00Fighters Spring Training 2017 in Arizona, aka Two-Shot SaturdayI'm back in Peoria for Fighters Spring Training. &nbsp;They're here from Feb 1 to Feb 10, but I'm only here from Feb 4 to 8, because you know, work and real life and all. &nbsp;(I went negative on vacation days after taking a 3-week honeymoon to Australia, although I got to watch a Melbourne Aces vs Sydney Blue Sox baseball game while there and meet the Japanese players from Seibu and Honda, and I also watched an Adelaide Strikers vs Brisbane Heat Twenty20 Big Bash cricket match, which was super exciting in other ways. &nbsp;But anyway.)<br /><br />I'm writing this while ignoring the Super Bowl on TV, but yesterday was Saturday Feb 4, my first day in camp this year. &nbsp;I ordered a bunch of championship gear in the offseason and got it in time to wear to camp, so I decided to wear it on the first day and get as many damn two-shot photos with Fighters as humanly possible. &nbsp;(I did bring some things to get signed, but in all honesty, I've always preferred photos to signatures -- more on that a bit later.)<br /><br />Actually, driving in, I saw Hichori Morimoto walking across the parking lot! &nbsp;I parked and tried to catch up with him but you know he's got super long legs and is much faster than I am. &nbsp;But, that was good, since I was really hoping to meet him; last year he left before I arrived.<br /><br />I got to camp around 10am. &nbsp;This was the day's training menu:<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9WMJqXU1qh8/WJg483HF5JI/AAAAAAAIMFk/tOl9HQh8fl8bRZXmdMLtM8yBoZ2H4ThQQCLcB/s1600/IMG_20170204_100455%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9WMJqXU1qh8/WJg483HF5JI/AAAAAAAIMFk/tOl9HQh8fl8bRZXmdMLtM8yBoZ2H4ThQQCLcB/s640/IMG_20170204_100455%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />As you can see, Ohtani had his own "special" training menu.<br /><br />But in all honesty I barely watched practice in the morning because I had to find Dani and I wanted to go say hi to a bazillion people. &nbsp;Friends from all over Fighters circumstances; people I met at camp last year, people I met in Sapporo, people I know from my Tokyo ouen groups, and even people who I follow on Twitter but had only met on the train going home from the Seibu clinching game last year.<br /><br />Well, and of course I also said hi to a lot of the random Fighters staff, since at this point I think I know most of them.<br /><br />I got Masao Kida to sign my championship towel, and I talked to him for a little while; he says the team should be coming back to Arizona for the next few years since their renovations in Okinawa will take a while. &nbsp;I then started my two-shot brigade by getting Ippei Mizuhara (one of the translators, who was like "You want a photo with ME?" "Yeah, I'm a big fan. &nbsp;I saw you on TV with Brandon all the time."), and Yuto Takahama, inbetween the fields.<br /><br />A reporter guy from HTB wanted to interview me and Dani, and since she's smarter than I am, she declined. &nbsp;I'm sure the footage they use of me will be embarrassing as usual. &nbsp;He asked things like "Where are you from? &nbsp;How did you become a Fighters fan? &nbsp;What player do you like? &nbsp;How did you get the championship shirt?" and such. &nbsp;Of course I answered honestly to everything, like how I went to the Tokyo Dome 14 years ago for my first game and lucked out that it was Fighters. &nbsp;And my favorite player is Kagiya (he was like "who else besides Kagiya?" and I was like... "I dunno? &nbsp;Umm... I like a lot of players? &nbsp;I'm hoping for this year's rookie Moriyama to do well since I watched him in college a lot?"). &nbsp;As for the championship shirt, I said that I ordered it to my old roomate's address in Tokyo, and please don't kick me out of the fan club for that. &nbsp;He also filmed the collection of Fighters gear I had with me.<br /><br />In the meantime I saw all of the foreign players coming out but obviously I couldn't get out of the interview, so I missed a chance to see the new guy Edwin Escobar. &nbsp;Oh well, there'll be more time later.<br /><br />After that, I saw Hichori hanging out by the broadcast tower. &nbsp;He didn't actually seem to be that busy, so I was like "I'm going to go ask him to sign my shirt!" &nbsp;So I did. &nbsp;I asked very politely in Japanese, like "Hichori-san, are you busy right now? &nbsp;Would you sign my shirt?" and he was like, sure... and then a whole line of people formed behind me because everyone was like "OMG HICHORI IS SIGNING SOMETHING!" so, oops, I didn't mean to make that happen, BUT he was really nice and signed for everyone in line -- and I went in line as well to get a photo with him as well since I'd wanted to do that anyway. &nbsp;One of the TV guys also tried to get me on camera, like "Whoa, why do you have this old shirt? &nbsp;Were you a big Hichori fan?" and I was like "Yeah, I used to teach junior high school in Arakawa, where Hichori is from, so I always cheer for players who are from Arakawa..."<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ix9pNjPtt60/WJg7lFflzyI/AAAAAAAIMGo/Vj7HTtHq1e0ujmRfLnSeva4CV_I6LxSKACEw/s1600/IMG_7245.JPG"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ix9pNjPtt60/WJg7lFflzyI/AAAAAAAIMGo/Vj7HTtHq1e0ujmRfLnSeva4CV_I6LxSKACEw/s640/IMG_7245.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />Upshot: Hichori is super-nice if you catch him when he's not busy, though :)<br /><br />Caught up with Dani out by field 4, where she was talking to a bunch of Japanese women who turned out to live in the US and speak perfect English, who all had guest badges. &nbsp;They were like, "Your interview was hilarious!" &nbsp;I was just like "..." &nbsp;But then it turned out they were guests of Toru Murata. &nbsp;The Fighters signed Murata in the off-season, he spent the last 6 years playing in the Cleveland Indians system, though he only got into one game at the MLB level. &nbsp;Anyway, his friends got him to come over after practice, so I got to meet him too, and he turns out to be a super-friendly guy and I'm really looking forward to seeing him play for the Fighters this year.<br /><br />Other funny thing that happened: Kagiya and Yuki Saitoh were in the same training group, so when we were standing there looking in on Field 4, they jogged by us. &nbsp;I waved hi at Kagiya and called out おはようございます！and he smiled and waved back! &nbsp;And then Saitoh looked at us funny so I was like おはようございます！ at him too and he smiled but in this very WTF way. &nbsp;Dani and I totally cracked up.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VtiOQWaEeFQ/WJg5-nkolOI/AAAAAAAIMFs/TTSuksy3QDQbTXxXSH5a3OtvpWrsKnUPACLcB/s1600/DSC_0901%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VtiOQWaEeFQ/WJg5-nkolOI/AAAAAAAIMFs/TTSuksy3QDQbTXxXSH5a3OtvpWrsKnUPACLcB/s640/DSC_0901%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />And after that, around noon, we decided to break for lunch; I said I'd meet Dani back at the field around 1. &nbsp;I got a sandwich on the way back to my hotel and dropped off my Hichori shirt lest anything happen to it in the afternoon. &nbsp;Also reapplied sunscreen and drank a ton of water.<br /><br />I got back a little after 1 and afternoon fielder's practice was going on; by then all of the pitchers were gone indoors to do weight training and such. &nbsp;One of the fields had people doing knock fielding with Shirai-coach, one of the fields seemed to be straight batting practice with some guys shagging flies in the outfield, and another field was special Ohtani practice, and then the tee area was various people either practicing swinging or bunting.<br /><br />Dani wasn't there, but I went up to one of the fields where I saw Matt Winters hanging out talking to Brandon Laird and Al&nbsp;Hargesheimer, so I went up and talked to them all for a while. &nbsp;It's always good to catch up with Matt and hear some stories (even if he still makes fun of me for the whole Jason Botts debacle).<br /><br />I spent a while taking photos of the batting practice guys, watching some of the fielding practice, etc. &nbsp;There was a big group of students from a local Japanese Saturday school called Arizona Gakuen, so things were kind of chaotic because of that as well. &nbsp;And Dani never did come back. &nbsp;So around 2:30pm I decided to wander out to the clubhouse exit area to see if maybe she was over there.<br /><br />Dani wasn't there, but there was SERIOUSLY a line of at least FIFTY people already out there waiting for autographs. &nbsp;Some had brought folding chairs. &nbsp;Most were non-Japanese people who clearly didn't give a shit about the Fighters at all and were only there to try to get Ohtani's autograph.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BIOBYAoSJaM/WJg6U_4Q7_I/AAAAAAAIMGk/6G2Jvnz8rWIt_idv0E30gbt9d4AXlaTpACEw/s1600/IMG_20170204_144511%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BIOBYAoSJaM/WJg6U_4Q7_I/AAAAAAAIMGk/6G2Jvnz8rWIt_idv0E30gbt9d4AXlaTpACEw/s640/IMG_20170204_144511%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />(Seriously, the entire city of Peoria is here trying to get Ohtani's autograph) <br /><br />I found one or two of my friends there and was like "WTF?"<br /><br />Mei explained to me, "Oh, this is just the Ohtani line."<br /><br />"So if I don't really care about an Ohtani autograph and just want to give Sugiya a birthday card and get two-shots with all of the other players?"<br /><br />"Then you can wait wherever and approach people as they come out, yeah."<br /><br />So I put my bag down off to the side of the pavement and hung out talking to (Japanese) people for a while. &nbsp;I did make good on my idea to get two-shots with people. &nbsp;I got Takahiro Nomo, and Yuki Saitoh (! he even smiled!) and Uwasawa, and Tatsuta, and Kishisato, and Uehara. &nbsp;Some guys did come straight out of the clubhouse and made a beeline for the hotel across the street without going anywhere near the fan line. &nbsp;A few players, I debated asking, then saw someone else approach them for a signature and get rebuffed. &nbsp;And in Arihara's case, since he had blown me off in the morning, I asked again like "Hey, how about now, can we get a photo?" and he was yet again like "Nah, I'm busy." &nbsp;I'm beginning to think he just hates me and/or hates fans or whatever since this is the 4th or 5th time he's turned me down.<br /><br />But anyway, in the meantime, the funny part was, the huge throng of dudes waiting for Ohtani's autograph, every time any player came out of the clubhouse they'd all get excited and get their pens and bats and stuff out. &nbsp;It became pretty clear pretty quickly that they had no idea who anyone was, and in most cases, they didn't even know what Ohtani himself looked like.<br /><br />My Japanese friends were wondering what the deal was with all of these guys, so I figured I'd just go up and ask. &nbsp;Turns out most of them were college students in the area, although a few were people who were just going to be in the area for Spring Training and were getting ready to hit up all the camps for autographs. &nbsp;One guy had gotten his ball signed by a bunch of people (infact, I think he must have been taking cues from who I got photos with, because he had a lot of the same players I just listed). &nbsp;I was like "do you even know who they are?" "Nah, but they always write numbers, so I'll look it up later." &nbsp;I started telling him about some of the players, and one of the other guys pipes up like "Hey, do you know how I could get So Taguchi's autograph? &nbsp;I'm from Philly and I had collected almost everyone from the 2008 World Series but he's impossible for obvious reasons."<br /><br />Normally I would just roll my eyes, but it was actually sort of the exact kind of question that nerdsnipes me because I'm also from Philly, even though I don't collect autographs, and the 2008 World Series is sentimental to me for family reasons. &nbsp;So we went and looked it up that Taguchi is a ni-gun coach for the Buffaloes now and I was like "Your best bet is to write to the team. &nbsp;You may not get a response, but I think your letter would get to him if you tried."<br /><br />But then the rest of the guys were all like "So do you know when he's coming out, anyway??"<br /><br />Sigh.<br /><br />(Actually, a Japanese staff member had told us he'd be out around 4pm, but I wasn't about to mention that. &nbsp;The Fighters players were going to the Phoenix Suns basketball game that evening and had to be back in their hotel lobby to leave at 5:30, so they had ended practice a little earlier than usual.)<br /><br />Anyway, Ohtani did come out a few minutes before 4pm. &nbsp;I wasn't going to be part of the whole thing, but I had been waiting with everyone for an hour and a half by that point. &nbsp;And one of my friends was just like "oh come on, get in line with us", so I did, and I got out my championship towel to be signed, figuring that would be more meaningful. &nbsp;Honestly, I'd prefer a photo with him, but as far as I can tell, that's just something that doesn't happen except under extreme circumstances. &nbsp;As I've said many times, an autograph on something can be sold, or traded, or lost, or whatever, but a photo is a nice little moment of "Hey, I met this baseball player" that has no value to anyone else so it can't really be sold and in the digital age can't really be lost, either.<br /><br />Ohtani had a security brigade with him (well, one Japanese team staff member, and one of the Peoria security guards -- the same guard he had last year, even) and the media crew was also following along taking photos. &nbsp;He basically just kind of went through the crowd with a determined look on his face the whole time and signed for everyone.<br /><br />(When it was my turn, I put out my towel and pen and said, "お願いします！" and when he was finished, "ありがとうございます！". &nbsp;I didn't think about it until later, but a lot of people didn't even thank him. &nbsp;Sheesh!)<br /><br />Also funny: one of the other guys out there, not part of the big hound crowd, although clearly not there for any reason other than getting an autograph, had an Ohtani jersey. &nbsp;And he wanted it signed on the number, not on the uniform itself. &nbsp;("American style, not Japanese style," he said.) &nbsp;Some of our group tried to help him get it ready by pinning it to a shikishi, but I was like "You know he's going to sign between the numbers, right?"<br /><div><br /></div><div>Sure enough, Ohtani not only signed next to the number, not on the number, but he also signed it at a right angle to the numbers! &nbsp;I should have taken a photo, but I kinda felt bad for the guy.</div><div><br /></div><div>I watched Ohtani make his way down the line for a while. &nbsp;Toshi Shimada, director of operations for the team, came out to watch as well. &nbsp;Toshi speaks perfect English (he used to be Matt Winters's interpreter) so I was like "Dude, this is crazy! &nbsp;Don't you guys have him on a signing limit?" and he said "Well... he couldn't really do anything at camp today, so he felt like this was at least something he could do." &nbsp;"Oh, I see. &nbsp;That's really nice of him and the team, then."</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, the nice thing about Ohtani coming out was that ALL THE AUTOGRAPH HOUNDS LEFT!!!1!!1 and then it was nice and peaceful. &nbsp;The remaining 20-25 of us there all gathered around the normal waiting place and it got much easier to ask players for signatures or photos because there wasn't this ridiculous intimidating line of 150 people out there anymore. &nbsp;Whew.</div><div><br /></div><div>Though, somebody left their folding chair there. &nbsp;We have no idea who. &nbsp;It was still there when we went home. &nbsp;For all I know it might still be there.</div><div><br /></div><div>So after that I got photos with Yagi, Urano (!), Kagiya, Taniguchi, Hakumura, Shirai-coach (!), Yokoo, Iguchi, Yoshida, Kuriyama-kantoku, and Ishiryo. &nbsp;Yeah, quite a collection.</div><div><br /></div><div>Urano was funny because I was like "I've been watching you since you were at Aichi Gakuin but never managed to meet you," and he was like "Really?" and I said "Yeah, I first saw you at the Jingu Taikai 6 years ago?" and he was like "Wow, thanks."</div><div><br /></div><div>Kagiya, I had given him some lip balm I brought for him (as usual, hehe) but then since he was still around after I got Urano, I went up like "Kagi-san, can I get a photo with you today anyway? &nbsp;I'm wearing my championship shirt?" and he looked like "Oh yeah, of course". &nbsp;Unfortunately the person who took it stood in the sun so we're both squinting but whatever. &nbsp;:)</div><div><br /></div><div>I didn't get a photo with Tatsuya Morimoto, but I started walking with him across the parking lot like "Hi Tatsuya!! &nbsp;Do you remember me??" in English, and he was like "...??" and then I asked in Japanese, like "We spoke at Kamagaya last year." And then he was like "Oh yeah! &nbsp;At the festival." &nbsp;Then he was like (in English) "Do you speak Japanese? &nbsp;Why??" &nbsp;And I told him how I used to live in Tokyo, etc, and then he asked a really good question: "'Can you speak English?'と'Do you speak English?'って、どう違いますか？" And I was trying to think of a difference, but it's true, they basically do kind of mean the same thing when you ask. &nbsp;So I did mention that "do you" and "can you" are usually different but not in this case. &nbsp;Anyway, we were walking and talking almost all the way across the parking lot, which was fun, but I didn't want to get too far away from everything, so I was like "じゃあ、また", and he was like "SEE YOU!!"</div><div><br /></div><div>I also didn't get a photo with Kenshi Sugiya, but since I was at the front of the line by the time he came out, I at least handed him the birthday card I'd brought for him like "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUGIYA!!" and he was like "THANK YOU!! &nbsp;I'M THE BIRTHDAY BOY!" &nbsp;But he was in a hurry so he pretty much blew through the entire crowd of people to get back to the hotel.</div><div><br /></div><div>(The card I got him had a pretty silly joke in it so I wrote a note in Japanese like "If you don't get it, ask Laird.")</div><div><br /></div><div>Dani did finally come back around 4:30, though most people and players were gone by then. &nbsp;We ended up talking to a Japanese boy who's in college in LA right now, who apparently remembered us from camp last year too although I totally forgot him. &nbsp;He's a big Asama fan, although when Asama came out he pretty much ran past and ignored all of the fans too. &nbsp;Oh well.</div><div><br /></div><div>We finally left for real around 5:30, which I may have mentioned is the same time that the players were gathering in the lobby of their hotel to go to the basketball game. &nbsp;Dani and I were going to stop by the hotel and drop off her stuff, but she's staying in the same hotel as the players and we saw their bus out front, so instead we diverted and went and got dinner and she caught me up on crazy stuff that had happened at camp the first few days.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's funny, you'd think that staying in the same hotel as the players would be exciting, but it sounds quite stressful. &nbsp;See, normal protocol with Japanese fans is that you don't bother players in their private time, which means in the hotel, or out shopping, or whatever. &nbsp;One of the fans said how "Well, I got in the elevator at the hotel and Takanashi was also in the elevator so you know, I just said hi to him, but other than that, like in the lobby and on the patio and stuff, you just don't talk to them, it's not cool." <br /><br /></div><div>The thing is, today, Sunday, I went to the Arrowhead mall nearby, and when I got there I saw several FIGHTERS/ANA bikes parked outside, and I realized that like half the team was going to be in the mall because of the off day, and because that's what young Japanese guys usually do on weekends. &nbsp;And I was totally right. &nbsp;I counted at least 16 players in there, and a few other staff. &nbsp;Most of the guys were just wandering around in groups of 2 or 3, but I saw them all over the place. &nbsp;It was very strange, because part of me was like OMG THE FIGHTERS ARE ALL OVER THE MALL but part of me was like OMG THEY ALREADY THINK YOU'RE A WEIRD AMERICAN STALKER.</div><br />Anyway, if you managed to get through all of this, or even if you didn't, here's some more photos from Saturday at camp.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RMREthT6dP8/WJg6L_xV6BI/AAAAAAAIMGk/FojkpEUp0lQr9jDhji_-liiUdr7x2YVtwCEw/s1600/DSC_0874%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RMREthT6dP8/WJg6L_xV6BI/AAAAAAAIMGk/FojkpEUp0lQr9jDhji_-liiUdr7x2YVtwCEw/s640/DSC_0874%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Takayuki Katoh on the mound. <br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FEWBMTBv4XI/WJg6LA5PIsI/AAAAAAAIMGk/HuR_EPKQM3ctXdEND0ZuEdo2gHdyObymACEw/s1600/DSC_0889%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FEWBMTBv4XI/WJg6LA5PIsI/AAAAAAAIMGk/HuR_EPKQM3ctXdEND0ZuEdo2gHdyObymACEw/s640/DSC_0889%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Yushi Shimizu during catcher's practice.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cgd23CLmY1g/WJg6Ir-Jd-I/AAAAAAAIMGk/41Ib198qGNYt4gfzPNF-OhiEL18YfyPAwCEw/s1600/DSC_0905%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Cgd23CLmY1g/WJg6Ir-Jd-I/AAAAAAAIMGk/41Ib198qGNYt4gfzPNF-OhiEL18YfyPAwCEw/s640/DSC_0905%2Bcopy.JPG" width="426" /></a><br />Brandon Laird messes with Shirai.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uhSimDdi9DY/WJg6NZVvJaI/AAAAAAAIMGk/dG9fKGAybX82hIZF0xfXTg7j5PUu0br6QCEw/s1600/DSC_0927%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uhSimDdi9DY/WJg6NZVvJaI/AAAAAAAIMGk/dG9fKGAybX82hIZF0xfXTg7j5PUu0br6QCEw/s640/DSC_0927%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Taishi Ohta pounds baseballs over the fence.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-5VejFURMY/WJg6P0Qoc9I/AAAAAAAIMGk/GL46lIyN8LgG9zvUOsTqt8PTvDG-wnJgACEw/s1600/DSC_0940%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6-5VejFURMY/WJg6P0Qoc9I/AAAAAAAIMGk/GL46lIyN8LgG9zvUOsTqt8PTvDG-wnJgACEw/s640/DSC_0940%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Brandon signs for people before being carted off.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sdJqvu0Wuw0/WJg6OuiiAlI/AAAAAAAIMGk/Beto2-byMH4gK4QIIJ-o5iixs39-XsMugCEw/s1600/DSC_0945%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sdJqvu0Wuw0/WJg6OuiiAlI/AAAAAAAIMGk/Beto2-byMH4gK4QIIJ-o5iixs39-XsMugCEw/s640/DSC_0945%2Bcopy.JPG" width="426" /></a><br />Ryo Ishikawa said "Whoosh" after hitting each ball<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N8Pjm6sOPX0/WJg6T6D9iNI/AAAAAAAIMGk/3xTa9NNUMXQLbj1MhJtqX_vYELTJUrW6gCEw/s1600/IMG_20170204_110823%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-N8Pjm6sOPX0/WJg6T6D9iNI/AAAAAAAIMGk/3xTa9NNUMXQLbj1MhJtqX_vYELTJUrW6gCEw/s640/IMG_20170204_110823%2Bcopy.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />Toru Murata meets with his friends<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EY_hs4tzBps/WJg6UUSOdOI/AAAAAAAIMGk/L2JZiz5iS8AZwuv9CoshPhCEPXHkytgpwCEw/s1600/IMG_20170204_155422%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EY_hs4tzBps/WJg6UUSOdOI/AAAAAAAIMGk/L2JZiz5iS8AZwuv9CoshPhCEPXHkytgpwCEw/s400/IMG_20170204_155422%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />I got Ohtani's autograph but I kind of feel guilty about it<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OhyqU3c4YN8/WJg6XDRzmpI/AAAAAAAIMGk/vOOMeIZirT8xTFqmubNXLgTLZmdL3qYJgCEw/s1600/IMG_20170204_155600%2Bcopy.jpg"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OhyqU3c4YN8/WJg6XDRzmpI/AAAAAAAIMGk/vOOMeIZirT8xTFqmubNXLgTLZmdL3qYJgCEw/s640/IMG_20170204_155600%2Bcopy.jpg" width="480" /></a><br />Ohtani's security detail and the photographers<br /><br />And now for an onslaught of two-shots! &nbsp;I did mention that I was doing my best to take photos yesterday rather than anything else, so I don't expect to get this many on any other day, but who knows. &nbsp;I still have a few people I haven't gotten yet...<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WcxJ2VDAgFk/WJg7kxNEJBI/AAAAAAAIMG4/ZDvSlcMOn-oJ5NYNN2DrtDi-RESDvFx8wCEw/s1600/IMG_7247%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WcxJ2VDAgFk/WJg7kxNEJBI/AAAAAAAIMG4/ZDvSlcMOn-oJ5NYNN2DrtDi-RESDvFx8wCEw/s400/IMG_7247%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Yuto Takahama<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6PpIJQfRwjw/WJg-VInpMpI/AAAAAAAIMIA/xpBLwPYCJLwmVd3ClLUENpX3UB6BEPozwCEw/s1600/IMG_7250.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6PpIJQfRwjw/WJg-VInpMpI/AAAAAAAIMIA/xpBLwPYCJLwmVd3ClLUENpX3UB6BEPozwCEw/s400/IMG_7250.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Toru Murata (what a nice guy!)<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruVEQgyH8UY/WJg-UhbS8VI/AAAAAAAIMIA/a0z06WmeY5MPaFKrK3OKh9DBW7N6pONxQCEw/s1600/IMG_7254.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ruVEQgyH8UY/WJg-UhbS8VI/AAAAAAAIMIA/a0z06WmeY5MPaFKrK3OKh9DBW7N6pONxQCEw/s400/IMG_7254.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Yuki Saitoh (and you can see the autograph dudebros in the background)<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nVbj8DoD9kM/WJg-UmMofaI/AAAAAAAIMIA/BwGB9g8DvtcYJSL6Ss2OswNGVrzaYOxSACEw/s1600/IMG_7259.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nVbj8DoD9kM/WJg-UmMofaI/AAAAAAAIMIA/BwGB9g8DvtcYJSL6Ss2OswNGVrzaYOxSACEw/s400/IMG_7259.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Shota Tatsuta, who also is injured right now :(<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVQOika-jI8/WJg-df3vCUI/AAAAAAAIMIE/HobX16DJ0_ImZx3xATIjdgUUKFomlhCBwCEw/s1600/IMG_7261.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-RVQOika-jI8/WJg-df3vCUI/AAAAAAAIMIE/HobX16DJ0_ImZx3xATIjdgUUKFomlhCBwCEw/s400/IMG_7261.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Takayuki Katoh<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-626Le4982lY/WJg-bK9z4kI/AAAAAAAIMIA/I2vkXEW8cFY2v2ehy6AdXKg8vGtO8Na1QCEw/s1600/IMG_7265.JPG"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-626Le4982lY/WJg-bK9z4kI/AAAAAAAIMIA/I2vkXEW8cFY2v2ehy6AdXKg8vGtO8Na1QCEw/s400/IMG_7265.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Taishi Ohta (he IS a pretty big guy)<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vFZpVvJPW2Y/WJg-ci0AGeI/AAAAAAAIMIA/gXtT_Sixpm8H7zjZUpHmasmx7eDl8TVSwCEw/s1600/IMG_7266.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vFZpVvJPW2Y/WJg-ci0AGeI/AAAAAAAIMIA/gXtT_Sixpm8H7zjZUpHmasmx7eDl8TVSwCEw/s400/IMG_7266.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Ryosuke Kishisato<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o0yRpjbjRQs/WJg-ilL-nRI/AAAAAAAIMIE/aJGQUe_ksjcIF-fEB74YNcSwAuUTw1GYgCEw/s1600/IMG_7267.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o0yRpjbjRQs/WJg-ilL-nRI/AAAAAAAIMIE/aJGQUe_ksjcIF-fEB74YNcSwAuUTw1GYgCEw/s400/IMG_7267.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Kenta Uehara<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vzaJwlD3J5g/WJg-kUNobMI/AAAAAAAIMIE/0ird1bzsCMc38yaPN0re6BgPrYAPBeOrwCEw/s1600/IMG_7268.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vzaJwlD3J5g/WJg-kUNobMI/AAAAAAAIMIE/0ird1bzsCMc38yaPN0re6BgPrYAPBeOrwCEw/s400/IMG_7268.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Shogo Yagi<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WH5dz4pRMsE/WJg-kZtCjAI/AAAAAAAIMIE/sZdKZup9VBYfJ5gKT8HeyHw-LUp48crbgCEw/s1600/IMG_7270%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WH5dz4pRMsE/WJg-kZtCjAI/AAAAAAAIMIE/sZdKZup9VBYfJ5gKT8HeyHw-LUp48crbgCEw/s400/IMG_7270%2Bcopy.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Hiroshi Urano<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R2giQdiItYk/WJg-oapc_3I/AAAAAAAIMIE/69gXDmGJ0OsZqAFq_MpHM_H2r72QXrNdgCEw/s1600/IMG_7271.JPG"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-R2giQdiItYk/WJg-oapc_3I/AAAAAAAIMIE/69gXDmGJ0OsZqAFq_MpHM_H2r72QXrNdgCEw/s400/IMG_7271.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Yohei Kagiya<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-nDoTNhTHI/WJg-qh_DqZI/AAAAAAAIMIE/FCCvfsSat5s5ssY_DP4vQ5W-YvGNyy5sgCEw/s1600/IMG_7273%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Y-nDoTNhTHI/WJg-qh_DqZI/AAAAAAAIMIE/FCCvfsSat5s5ssY_DP4vQ5W-YvGNyy5sgCEw/s400/IMG_7273%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Yuya Taniguchi<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NMtlCbr9mU/WJg-syi1LuI/AAAAAAAIMIE/Usf_WDc_lJAy5PLMyoiNrncABXJmR3lHACEw/s1600/IMG_7274.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2NMtlCbr9mU/WJg-syi1LuI/AAAAAAAIMIE/Usf_WDc_lJAy5PLMyoiNrncABXJmR3lHACEw/s400/IMG_7274.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Akihiro Hakumura<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bOfNauqcaBw/WJg-u_rVIVI/AAAAAAAIMIE/jYIfhKE8B8AJVBTPoYIpwh-b0O3vdea6ACEw/s1600/IMG_7277.JPG"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bOfNauqcaBw/WJg-u_rVIVI/AAAAAAAIMIE/jYIfhKE8B8AJVBTPoYIpwh-b0O3vdea6ACEw/s400/IMG_7277.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Coach Kazuyuki Shirai, the funniest guy on the team<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3KPxe0oQED8/WJg-zYhPA2I/AAAAAAAIMIE/7OfnrEQDa7AOSBzLo_hOChZRZC3OPXm-QCEw/s1600/IMG_7278.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3KPxe0oQED8/WJg-zYhPA2I/AAAAAAAIMIE/7OfnrEQDa7AOSBzLo_hOChZRZC3OPXm-QCEw/s400/IMG_7278.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Toshitake Yokoo... he was trying to get the sun out of his eyes too<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRFY-1pBcUA/WJg-zyoDV9I/AAAAAAAIMIE/A-ebwDgEypIT2kNX5xqT2Mw2U76K9rKOwCEw/s1600/IMG_7279.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JRFY-1pBcUA/WJg-zyoDV9I/AAAAAAAIMIE/A-ebwDgEypIT2kNX5xqT2Mw2U76K9rKOwCEw/s400/IMG_7279.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Three-shot with Kazutomo Iguchi and Yuki Yoshida<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MLeYPDpdRNA/WJg-1Jm7ZMI/AAAAAAAIMIE/nMiDvTQuoKk6Z8wl8ivW-9lNQCQiVbltwCEw/s1600/IMG_7282%2Bcopy.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MLeYPDpdRNA/WJg-1Jm7ZMI/AAAAAAAIMIE/nMiDvTQuoKk6Z8wl8ivW-9lNQCQiVbltwCEw/s400/IMG_7282%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Manager Hideki Kuriyama!<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ha0irH8xx5U/WJg-35ggRJI/AAAAAAAIMIE/Vme_M2H5TXAGGNSU2uiB0uxmKFwsIQyXACEw/s1600/IMG_7283.JPG"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ha0irH8xx5U/WJg-35ggRJI/AAAAAAAIMIE/Vme_M2H5TXAGGNSU2uiB0uxmKFwsIQyXACEw/s400/IMG_7283.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Ryo Ishikawa<br /><br />Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-39298158275575576732016-10-30T00:32:00.000-07:002016-10-30T10:00:18.211-07:00Ten years and two days later, the Fighters win it all again!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pa67UQWRaTM/WBWR5-U1gOI/AAAAAAAH71I/8KtcjnpCOEoi9sbnciRnAAqcwv5ZjB25ACLcB/s1600/20161029_04_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pa67UQWRaTM/WBWR5-U1gOI/AAAAAAAH71I/8KtcjnpCOEoi9sbnciRnAAqcwv5ZjB25ACLcB/s640/20161029_04_01.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">(pictures from the Fighters website)</td></tr></tbody></table>And unlike in 2006 when I was able to slack off quite a bit for a week or two of work and stay up all night, now I work at Google and have way too much going on to actually watch any significant part of the Japan Series. &nbsp;I did catch the 5th and 6th games of this year's PL Second Stage playoffs, because they were at 2pm Japan which is 10pm here, and they were also aired on Pacific League TV. &nbsp;But the Japan Series games were&nbsp;<b>all</b> at 6:30pm in Japan, which is 2:30am here, and the reliable streams seemed to hop around every day.<br /><br />I was at the Seibu Dome on Sept 27-28 for the adventures of clinching the Pacific League though, and should write that up sometime. &nbsp;But everything else I've had to experience from the US during my precious waking hours.<br /><br />Those final playoff games were a doozy -- Game 5, on Oct 15th, happened right after a Meiji-Waseda game where Yuya Yanagi got 19 strikeouts in 12 innings in his last weekend before the draft, and so I switched over to the Fighters, and then the Hawks kept hitting home runs and chipping away at Takanashi, and eventually won the game 5-2, with my highlights being getting to see Kagiya and Hakumura pitch a few innings.<br /><br />Game 6, unlike game 5, had the Hawks go up 4-0 in one inning instead of in 4 innings, pretty much beating up rookie starter Takayuki Katoh. &nbsp;But Anthony Bass came in and pitched four scoreless innings to hold off the Hawks while the Fighters waited for Tadashi Settsu to lose his curveball and start giving up runs. &nbsp;Kensuke Tanaka hadn't really hit at all in the playoffs so he was benched in favor of Kenshi Sugiya who not only fielded well but also hit the Fighters second RBI (the first was a Sho Nakata solo homer). &nbsp;In the 4th inning, with the bases loaded, Hiromi Oka pinch-hit for Shota Ohno, which seemed like a weird move, but then he hit a double to center which scored the tying runs, and the Fighters went up 5-4 immediately after on a squeeze bunt by Takuya Nakashima, which was kind of ironically perfect as the Hawks had ruined our night on Sept 27th by going up 3-2 on the Marines on a squeeze play.<br /><br />The rest of Game 6 belonged to Shohei Ohtani, who not only hit a double in the 5th inning and scored on the Kensuke Kondoh hit that brought the game to 7-4, but, also, Ohtani impossibly came into the game to close it out pitching in the 9th inning. &nbsp;And almost every pitch he threw was over 160 km/h, including two of them hitting 165 km/h, which is a new speed record in Japan. &nbsp;(I'm not even sure why the Fighters keep making new merch every time he does this. &nbsp;I haven't bought any because duh.)<br /><br />There was a week off between the playoffs and the Japan Series, during which <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2016/10/draft-2016-liveblogging.html">the draft happened</a>. &nbsp;The only real update there is that Fighters' 6th-round pick Yujiro Yamaguchi has said he's not going to join the team because he's pissed at getting picked lower than 4th. &nbsp;Whether or not you believe him on that being the real reason, or whether or not you think this is broken or not, please respect my right to call him a dumbass and be annoyed at him. &nbsp;Thanks. &nbsp;That's all I really feel like saying on the subject. &nbsp;It's kind of silly, though, that since 2000 there have been 5 normal-round picks to turn down their teams, and 3/5 have been Fighters, and 2/5 have been goddamn Hisayoshi Chono.<br /><br />Anyway. &nbsp;Did I mention that the Fighters won the Japan Series?<br /><br />I really truly honestly didn't get to see or follow most of the games. &nbsp;The first two were in Hiroshima, and the Fighters lost both of them 5-1 -- this was bizarre enough that on Sunday morning when I woke up and looked at the score I had to make sure I had loaded the right page, but no, it really was Ohtani vs. Kris Johnson in the first game and Masui vs. Yusuke Nomura in the second.<br /><br />Johnson, by the way, won the Sawamura award this year, first time a foreigner had won it since Gene Bacque in 1964. &nbsp;I feel like this along with Balentien's home run record a few years ago is kind of showing that NPB, and maybe Japan as a whole, may be slightly more accepting of foreigners than before. &nbsp;Not really much, but just a tiny tiny tiny bit. &nbsp;And every tiny tiny bit helps.<br /><br />(Now, to be honest, this was the first year EVER in the past decade that there weren't a few scattered racist morons that treated me like a dumb foreigner at Fighters games. &nbsp;But that's also because I became pretty famous after spring training in Arizona. &nbsp;So instead of getting "Oh... where are you from? &nbsp;Oh, do you like Fighters?" in broken bad English from people in the stands, I got a lot of "OMG YOU'RE THE GIRL FROM ARIZONA WHO WAS ON TV ALL THE TIME!")<br /><br />The Fighters went back to Sapporo for Games 3-5, and won all of them! &nbsp;Game 3 involved a walkoff RBI hit by Ohtani in the 10th inning to win it 4-3, and Game 4 involved a huge Brandon Laird go-ahead 2-run homer to win it 3-1, and Game 5 involved, amazingly, a walkoff grand slam by Haruki Nishikawa, the second in Japan Series history (the first being the Swallows' Toru Sugiura in Game 1 of the 1992 Japan Series). &nbsp;It should also be noted that Takayuki Katoh only gave up 1 run in the first inning but also got pulled pretty quickly to let Luis Mendoza hold up the fort for most of the game.<br /><br />Now here's the thing: the home team had won all of the first 5 games, and we were going back to Hiroshima, so I wasn't feeling all too good about that. &nbsp;The first Japan Series I ever followed was 2003 when the Hawks and Tigers faced off and the home team won every game in that series as well.<br /><br />However, this year was different!<br /><br />I actually watched the first 4 innings of Game 6 -- not because I wanted to be awake, but because I was having some acid reflux issues combined with failing to swallow an antacid pill properly, and so I was way too uncomfortable to sleep and having&nbsp;esophageal spasms. &nbsp;So, I found a site streaming the game, although it was very choppy, and watched as the Fighters went up 1-0 in the first inning on a Haruki Nishikawa triple and an infield blooping hit by Hiromi Oka. &nbsp;And I also watched as the Carp went up 2-1 in the second inning on a wild pitch by Masui and an error by Brandon Laird.<br /><br />Note: Game 6 was Masui vs Nomura, which people seemed confused about, ie, why leave aces Kuroda and Ohtani until Game 7? &nbsp;But I think it was a solid move on both sides. &nbsp;(And I feel a little bit bad that my job since 2007 Koshien seems to be watching Yusuke Nomura lose really important games.)<br /><br />Anyway, there were more Haruki triples and hits and the Fighters went up 4-2 in the top of the 4th, and Kuriyama pulled Masui super early so I even got to see Kagiya pitch the bottom of the 4th, and I saw him pitching a scoreless inning culminating in striking out Takahiro Arai. &nbsp;By then my stomach had calmed down enough to sleep, so I went to sleep. &nbsp;It was 4:30 in the morning and I had to be up at 8:30 to go meet friends up in San Francisco anyway, so it was just as well.<br /><br />When I woke up four hours later, I saw the <a href="http://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/npb/game/2016102901/stats">final box score</a>. &nbsp;The Fighters won 10-4! &nbsp;Holy crap! &nbsp;It looks like Jay Jackson just had a very very bad 8th inning pitching for the Carp, and Brandon Laird hit a grand slam, which cemented him as the series MVP.<br /><br />(You should just read <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2016/10/30/baseball/japanese-baseball/fighters-wrap-japan-series-title-dramatic-eighth-inning-fireworks/#.WBWe_pgrK9Y">Jason Coskrey's article about the game</a>, since he was actually there and all.)<br /><br />Today I seriously dug my 2006 Nippon Series Champions t-shirt out of the depths of my random Fighters crap and <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/792416093440585728">wore it around San Francisco</a>.&nbsp;I cannot believe it's been 10 years since the last time the Fighters won the Japan Series, and how very much my life has changed since then. &nbsp;It really has been a pretty insane adventure since then. &nbsp;It was during the 2006 postseason that I had an ongoing bizarre AIM conversation with then-Japan-Times-writer Stephen Ellsesser that made me decide I was going to move to Japan to write about baseball one way or the other, and that's what I ended up doing, quitting my cushy software engineering job to go teach English in Tokyo and travel the country watching baseball. &nbsp;I remember spending the entirety of October 2006 writing about the Fighters on this blog and thinking nobody out there really cared -- this was, after all, before Twitter, before Reddit, mostly before Facebook even, and before you could see live streams of games. &nbsp;Now there's a pretty wide NPB audience online in English.<br /><br />I still can't believe how much kindness I've been shown by the Fighters and the Fighters fans over the past decade, though. &nbsp;While there have certainly been a few rocky moments here and there, overall it has been the most incredible time of my life. &nbsp;I love coming back to Kamagaya every year and feeling like I'm stopping off at home to visit my family. &nbsp;Same for going to the Sapporo Dome. &nbsp;There are basically two places in Japan that I feel like I really belong there, and one is behind the dugout of a Tokyo Big 6 team with my camera and my friends there, and the other is in the middle of a Fighters cheering section.<br /><br />I ordered a few of the championship goods from the Fighters site but I won't get them for a few months. &nbsp;Hopefully they'll show up in time to wear to Arizona spring training next year :) &nbsp;And wow, I really can't wait to see everyone there again. &nbsp;It's going to be even more crazy this time around!Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-78651536514058515042016-10-19T15:39:00.001-07:002016-11-05T12:09:08.060-07:00Draft 2016 LivebloggingHello and welcome to my <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/search/label/Draft%20Results">11th annual</a> anguish over hoping the Giants don't draft my favorite college players, also known as Marinerds NPB Draft Liveblogging!<br /><br />I'm preparing this post a little earlier in the day, and hopefully I'll be able to stay up all night tonight.<br /><br />I just got back from Japan a few weeks ago (I was there in person when the Fighters clinched the PL pennant at the Seibu Dome and I really should finish writing that up one of these days) so I have a few draft magazines, and one of my friends gave me a whole slew of industrial league team pamphlets, but there are always going to be a few guys that slip through the cracks in the later rounds. &nbsp;Always fun!<br /><br />Hopefully the <a href="http://www.tbs.co.jp/baseball-draft/">TBS stream</a> will actually work this year, who knows.<br /><br />Otherwise I'll just be watching the picks come in on various news sources such as <a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/professional/draft/2016/">Nikkan Sports</a>, <a href="http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/npb/2016/draft/">Sponichi</a>, <a href="http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/tokushu/baseball-t32669.html">Sanspo</a>, etc, plus team pages, as usual.<br /><br />Moving commentary to below the draft results grid. &nbsp;Also now the Ikusei grid is done and so this should be complete overall.<br /><br /><pre>Name Pos HS/Univ/Company T/B DOB Ht/Wt <br />-------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- -------<br /><a href="http://www.buffaloes.co.jp/news/detail/5795.html">Orix Buffaloes</a><br />1 Taisuke Yamaoka P Tokyo Gas R/L 09/22/1995 172/66<br />2 Yuta Kuroki P Rissho Univ R/L 08/16/1994 178/75<br />3 Daisuke Okazaki IF Hanasaki Tokuharu HS R/L 09/17/1998 182/75<br />4 Yoshinobu Yamamoto P Miyakonojo HS R/R 08/17/1998 177/72<br />5 Keisuke Kobayashi P Nihon Seimei R/R 11/02/1992 187/86<br />6 Soichiro Yamazaki P Tsuruga Kehi HS R/R 06/15/1998 188/84<br />7 Daisuke Iida C Honda Suzuka R/R 09/19/1990 181/83<br />8 Keisuke Sawada P Rikkio Univ R/L 04/27/1994 178/90<br />9 Kaoru Nemoto OF Kasumigaura HS L/L 07/29/1998 185/78<br /><br />i1 Yaku Cho OF Nihon Keizai Univ R/R 02/26/1994 181/78<br />i2 Tsubasa Sakakibara P Urawa Gakuin HS R/R 08/25/1998 180/80<br />i3 Fumiya Kanbe P Rissho Univ R/R 05/09/1994 182/80<br />i4 Kazumasa Sakamoto IF Ishikawa Million Stars R/L 11/16/1990 162/65<br />i5 Katsushi Nakamichi C Meiji Univ R/L 04/30/1994 173/78<br /><br /><a href="http://dragons.jp/news/2016/draft.html">Chunichi Dragons</a><br />1 Yuya Yanagi P Meiji Univ R/R 04/22/1994 180/80<br />2 Yota Kyoda IF Nihon Univ R/L 04/20/1994 184/80<br />3 Masami Ishigaki IF Sakata Minami HS R/R 09/21/1998 180/84<br />4 Shotaro Kasahara P Niigata Iryo Fukushi U L/L 03/17/1995 177/85<br />5 Kento Fujishima P Toho HS R/R 05/08/1998 176/75<br />6 Taisuke Maruyama P Tokai Univ R/R 02/05/1995 176/75<br /><br />i1 Yusuke Kinoshita P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 10/10/1993 183/82<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rakuteneagles.jp/news/detail/6870.html">Rakuten Eagles</a><br />1 Shoma Fujihira P Yokohama HS R/R 09/21/1998 186/84<br />2 Takahide Ikeda P Soka Univ R/R 10/01/1994 180/80<br />3 Kazuki Tanaka IF Rikkio Univ R/S 08/08/1994 180/78<br />4 Shu Sugahara P Osaka Taiiku Univ R/L 04/05/1994 182/78<br />5 Kohei Morihara P Shinnitetsu Hirohata R/L 12/26/1991 184/83<br />6 Keisuke Tsuruta P Teikyo Univ (Rubber) L/L 05/12/1994 180/84<br />7 Hiroki Nomoto P Sasebo Kogyo HS R/R 05/16/1998 180/72<br />8 Tsuyoshi Ishihara C Kyoto Shoei HS R/R 03/08/1999 169/87<br />9 Yuhei Takanashi P JX-ENEOS L/L 07/13/1992 175/80<br />10 Naoto Nishiguchi P Koga Health Senmon R/R 11/04/1996 183/80<br /><br />i1 Kota Chiba P Hanamaki Higashi R/R 04/22/1998 180/87<br />i2 Yosuke Minami IF Meisei Univ R/R 08/07/1994 175/73<br />i3 Takumi Mukaitani IF Hyogo Blue Thunders R/L 02/24/1997 170/68<br />i4 Toshiyasu Kimura P Riseisha Health Senmon R/L 09/14/1995 176/76<br /><br />Swallows<br />1 Naruki Terashima P Riseisha HS L/L 07/30/1998 183/86<br />2 Tomoya Hoshi P Meiji Univ R/R 04/15/1994 181/85<br />3 Yugo Umeno P Kyushudai Kyusan HS R/R 01/13/1999 175/80<br />4 Hikaru Nakao P Nagoya Keizai Univ L/L 09/14/1994 179/79<br />5 Yudai Koga C Meitoku Gijuku HS R/R 08/07/1998 178/75<br />6 Ryusuke Kikusawa P Soso Ritech R/R 05/16/1988 183/85<br /><br />i1 Hajime Ohmura C Ishikawa Million Stars R/L 12/21/1991 169/80<br /><br /><a href="http://www.seibulions.jp/news/detail/12135.html">Lions</a><br />1 Tatsuya Imai P Sakushin Gakuin HS R/R 05/09/1998 180/70<br />2 Shunta Nakatsuka P Hakuoh Univ R/R 12/26/1994 191/103<br />3 Sousuke Genda IF Toyota R/L 02/16/1993 179/73<br />4 Shohei Suzuki OF Shizuoka HS L/L 05/20/1998 174/75<br />5 Katsunori Hirai P Honda Suzuka R/R 12/20/1991 180/83<br />6 Ichiro Tamura P Rikkio Univ R/L 09/19/1994 173/80<br /><br /><a href="https://hanshintigers.jp/news/topics/draft2016.html">Tigers</a><br />1 Yusuke Ohyama IF Hakuoh Univ R/R 12/19/1994 181/84<br />2 Taiki Ono P Fuji Univ R/R 05/30/1994 183/76<br />3 Hiroto Saiki P Sumashofu HS (Kobe) R/R 11/07/1998 187/79<br />4 Masumi Hamachi P Fukuoka Ohhori HS R/R 05/25/1998 183/88<br />5 Kento Itohara IF JX-ENEOS R/L 11/11/1992 175/80<br />6 Shungo Fukunaga P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/L 05/14/1994 185/90<br />7 Kenya Nagasaka C Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/R 04/28/1994 173/78<br />8 Kosuke Fujitani P Panasonic R/R 02/12/1996 194/95<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marines.co.jp/expansion/2016draft/">Marines</a><br /><strike>1 Seigi Tanaka</strike><br />1 Chihaya Sasaki P Oberlin Univ R/R 06/08/1994 182/85<br />2 Tomohito Sakai P Osaka Gas R/R 01/02/1993 179/80<br />3 Takaaki Shima P Tokai Ichihara Boyo HS R/R 06/26/1998 180/82<br />4 Seiya Dohi P Osaka Gas L/L 07/07/1995 185/81<br />5 Yuki Ariyoshi P Kyushu Mitsubishi R/R 03/12/1991 179/87<br />6 Atsuki Taneichi P Hachinohedai Ichi HS R/R 09/07/1998 183/80<br />7 Yuito Munetsugu C Asia Univ R/R 07/06/1994 183/91<br /><br />i1 Yoshizumi Yasue P Ishikawa Million Stars R/R 05/26/1992 185/80<br />i2 Shota Sugawara OF Nihon Wellness Sports U L/L 09/19/1993 183/95<br /><br /><a href="http://www.baystars.co.jp/team/draft/2016/">Baystars</a><br /><strike>1 Yuya Yanagi</strike><br /><strike>1 Chihaya Sasaki</strike><br />1 Haruhiro Hamaguchi P Kanagawa Univ L/L 03/16/1995 173/78<br />2 Koya Mizuno P Tokai Univ Hokkaido R/R 06/01/1994 175/74<br />3 Taiga Matsuo IF Shugakukan HS R/R 04/05/1998 174/73<br />4 Masaya Kyoyama P Ohmi HS R/R 07/04/1998 183/72<br />5 Seiya Hosokawa P Meishugakuen Hitachi HS R/R 08/04/1998 181/85<br />6 Yuya Onaka P Hiroshima Keizai Univ R/L 01/31/1995 172/70<br />7 Yukikazu Karino IF Heisei Kokusai Univ R/R 07/31/1994 179/75<br />8 Takuya Shindoh P JR Higashinihon R/R 07/16/1992 184/78<br />9 Keita Sano IF Meiji Univ R/L 11/28/1994 177/77<br /><br />i1 Takamasa Kasai P Shinano Grandserows R/R 08/07/1994 179/93<br /><br /><a href="http://www.softbankhawks.co.jp/team/draft/">Hawks</a><br />1 Seigi Tanaka P Soka Univ R/R 07/19/1994 186/89<br />2 Yuto Furuya P Koryo HS (Hokkaido) L/L 02/19/1999 176/76<br />3 Ryuhei Kuki C Shugakukan HS R/R 09/05/1998 181/82<br />4 Masaki Mimori IF Aomori Yamada HS R/L 02/21/1999 183/66<br /><br />i1 Shogo Ohmoto OF Teikyo #5 HS R/L 04/22/1998 186/94<br />i2 Hiroki Hasegawa P Seitoku Gakuen HS L/L 08/23/1998 174/73<br />i3 Tsubasa Tashiro OF Hachinohe Kosei HS R/L 03/19/1999 179/72<br />i4 Kosuke Moriyama IF/P Fujisawa Shoryo HS R/R 04/13/1998 187/86<br />i5 Rikuya Shimizu OF Kyoto Kokusai HS R/R 01/22/1999 186/76<br />i6 Ryugen Matsumoto IF Sotoku HS R/L 02/27/1999 175/72<br /><br />Giants<br /><strike>1 Seigi Tanaka</strike><br /><strike>1 Chihaya Sasaki</strike><br />1 Naoki Yoshikawa IF Chukyo Gakuin Univ R/L 02/08/1995 177/79<br />2 Seishu Hatake P Kinki Univ R/L 05/31/1994 186/74<br />3 Tappei Tanioka P Toshiba R/R 03/21/1996 181/81<br />4 Shun Ikeda P Yamaha L/L 11/29/1992 174/72<br />5 Hosei Takada P Soshi Gakuen HS R/R 07/04/1998 178/75<br />6 Ryusei Ohe P Nishogakusha HS L/L 01/15/1999 171/75<br />7 Jen-Lei Liao P Kainan Univ (Taiwan) R/R 08/30/1993 201/125<br /><br />i1 Suguru Takai P Niigata Albirex R/R 08/22/1995 180/78<br />i2 Shuhei Katoh OF Iwata Higashi HS R/R 03/28/1999 178/84<br />i3 Motohiro Yamakawa P Hyogo Blue Thunders R/L 01/04/1995 170/73<br />i4 Koki Sakamoto P Kansai Gakuin (Rubber) R/R 08/19/1994 180/80<br />i5 Seiya Matsubara OF Meisei Univ R/L 01/26/1995 173/70<br />i6 Ryutaro Takayama C Kyushu Sangyo Univ R/R 02/21/1995 186/80<br />i7 Hayato Horioka P Aomori Yamada HS R/R 09/11/1998 183/84<br />i8 Yusuke Matsuzawa OF Kagawa Olive Guyners L/L 07/01/1992 181/85<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fighters.co.jp/team/draft/2016/index.php">Fighters</a><br /><strike>1 Seigi Tanaka</strike><br /><strike>1 Chihaya Sasaki</strike><br />1 Mizuki Hori P Hiroshima Shinjo HS L/L 05/10/1998 177/72<br />2 Kazunari Ishii IF Waseda Univ R/L 05/06/1994 181/76<br />3 Kazuki Takara P Kyushu Sandai Univ R/R 06/25/1994 177/77<br />4 Keisuke Moriyama OF Senshu Univ L/L 05/02/1994 187/85<br />5 Yuki Takayama P Osaka Toin HS L/L 05/17/1998 180/70<br />6 Yujiro Yamaguchi P Riseisha HS L/L 05/14/1998 180/87<br />7 Takuya Koori C Teikyo HS R/R 04/25/1998 177/74<br />8 Taisho Tamai P Kazusa Magic R/R 06/16/1992 178/78<br />9 Junnosuke Imai IF Chukyo HS R/L 05/25/1998 177/88<br /><br /><a href="http://www.carp.co.jp/news16/s-073.html">Carp</a><br /><strike>1 Seigi Tanaka</strike><br /><strike>1 Chihaya Sasaki</strike><br />1 Takuya Katoh P Keio Univ R/R 12/31/1994 175/90<br />2 Koya Takahashi P Hanasaki Tokuharu HS L/L 09/27/1998 181/83<br />3 Hiroki Tokota P Chubu Gakuin Univ L/L 03/01/1995 182/74<br />4 Shogo Sakakura C Nichidai Sanko HS R/L 05/29/1998 177/80<br />5 Makoto Aduwa P Matsuyama Seiryo HS R/R 10/02/1998 196/86<br />6 Ryota Nagai P Tsukuba Shuei HS R/R 01/15/1999 181/81<br /></pre><b><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />12:53am:</b>&nbsp;turns out that hahahaha no the TBS link does not work.<br /><b>~1:10am:</b>&nbsp;I have Konansports on, but it's so damn choppy that it's almost not worth watching. &nbsp;That means that I missed most of the ceremonial starting stuff and I'm mostly ok with that since it's silly.<br /><br />The main thing about this year is that they're making the winning and losing ballots more obvious after Manaka's little mistake with Takayama last year. &nbsp;Wonder if we'll be able to tell or not.<br /><br />Anyway, first round is in this order, and I'll put choices in:<br /><b>Buffaloes:&nbsp;</b>Yamaoka Taisuke, Tokyo Gas, P<br /><b>Dragons:&nbsp;</b>Yanagi Yuya, Meiji Univ, P<br /><b>Eagles:&nbsp;</b>Fujihira Shoma, Yokohama HS, P<br /><b>Swallows:&nbsp;</b>Terashima Naruki, Riseisha HS, P<br /><b>Lions:&nbsp;</b>Imai Tatsuya, Sakushin HS, P<br /><b>Tigers:&nbsp;</b>Ohyama Yusuke, Hakuoh Univ, IF<br /><b>Marines:&nbsp;</b>Tanaka Seigi, Soka Univ, P<br /><b>Baystars:</b>&nbsp;Yanagi<br /><b>Hawks:&nbsp;</b>Tanaka<br /><b>Giants:&nbsp;</b>Tanaka<br /><b>Fighters:&nbsp;</b>Tanaka<br /><b>Carp:&nbsp;</b>Tanaka<br /><br /><b>1:23am</b>&nbsp;First ballot-off happens and it's for Yuya Yanagi.<br />And... OH NO HE GOES TO CHUNICHI. &nbsp;Sigh. &nbsp;I will miss you, Yanagi. &nbsp;(Feels like after watching him for the past 7 years I am not likely to see him much with Chunichi, but who knows)<br /><br /><b>1:27am:</b>&nbsp;Second ballot-off for Tanaka and it goes to Kimiyasu Kudoh drawing for the Hawks. &nbsp;Sigh. &nbsp;Like they need any MORE top talent.<br /><br /><b>1:36am:&nbsp;</b>Pretty much everybody that had a choice after Tanaka tried to take Chihaya Sasaki and he went to the Marines. &nbsp;Next!<br /><br /><b>1:46am</b>&nbsp;the first round has finally been decided after the Chihaya lottery and I am a little bit sad that the Fighters did not take any of my favorite first rounders as Katoh went to the Carp and as you saw Yanagi went to Chunichi and all.<br /><br />So, to sum up the actual first round...<br /><br /><b>Buffaloes:</b>&nbsp;Taisuke Yamaoka, Tokyo Gas, P<br /><b>Dragons:</b>&nbsp;Yuya Yanagi, Meiji Univ, P<br /><b>Eagles:</b>&nbsp;Shoma Fujihira, Yokohama HS, P<br /><b>Swallows:</b>&nbsp;Naruki Terashima, Riseisha HS, P<br /><b>Lions:</b>&nbsp;Tatsuya Imai, Sakushin HS, P<br /><b>Tigers:</b>&nbsp;Yusuke Ohyama, Hakuoh Univ, IF<br /><b>Marines:&nbsp;</b>Chihaya Sasaki, Oberlin Univ, P<br /><b>Baystars:</b>&nbsp;Haruhiro Hamaguchi, Kanagawa Univ, P<br /><b>Hawks:&nbsp;</b>Seigi Tanaka, Soka Univ, P<br /><b>Giants:&nbsp;</b>Naoki Yoshikawa, Chukyo Gakuin Univ, IF<br /><b>Fighters:&nbsp;</b>Mizuki Hori, Hiroshima Shinjo HS, P<br /><b>Carp:&nbsp;</b>Takuya Katoh, Keio Univ, P<br /><br />Ugh.<br /><br />Ok, gonna fill in the table. &nbsp;I have pretty much lost the ability to watch the stream after gaining it, which is kinda just fine with me. &nbsp;It turned out the TBS stream DID work, but not on a macbook and not in Chrome, and my PC laptop is so old and crappy it's not worth listening to the fan blowing over the sound of the stream.<br /><br /><b>2:06am:&nbsp;</b>just a note that the second round started while I was finishing putting the first round in the table, and the Swallows picked Tomoya Hoshi from Meiji in the second round, and that is kinda cool, I just met him during my last weekend in Japan, he's really good, that will be exciting.<br /><br /><b>2:26am:&nbsp;</b>Done entering the second round and of course we are in the middle of the 4th round now. &nbsp;Kazuki Tanaka from Rikkio went to Rakuten which is kinda exciting and I'm sure there are other ones that I haven't spotted yet too.<br /><br /><b>3:05am:</b>&nbsp;Incase it isn't obvious, I am just flipping through draft magazines and trying to keep up with the draft (I think I'm mostly done the 4th round now but we're in the 6th). &nbsp;Very excited about a few picks, very annoyed at some others, I will probably comment afterwards. &nbsp;Also, Shu Sugahara got the award for "first dude not in the draft magazines", and there are a bunch of guys who clearly have been named after pro players by the kanji in their names -- Masumi Hamachi (looks like Kuwata) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (looks like Takahashi).<br /><br /><b>3:20am:</b>&nbsp;Keisuke Sawada got picked by the Buffaloes! &nbsp;It's not the Fighters but I'm so damn happy he got drafted. &nbsp;We've been buddies since he showed up at Rikkio, basically, and I've always watched him kick ass and take names and somehow get screwed over by the fact that Meiji is always just a little bit better. &nbsp;(ok, nose back to translation grind)<br /><br /><b>3:37am:</b>&nbsp;Still grinding but I want to look up Keisuke Tsuruta later -- Eagles round 6. &nbsp;He's from Teikyo University's rubber baseball club, which makes him almost as interesting as Takumi Ohshima (who got drafted out of Waseda's softball club)<br /><br />Also want to look up Swallows round 6 Ryusuke Kikusawa. &nbsp;At 28 he is the oldest in the draft and spent last year playing with the Sonoma Stompers, but I didn't make it up to any games up there (haven't been in a long time actually).<br /><br /><b>4:26am</b>&nbsp;almost done the normal draft, not gonna do ikusei tonight most likely. &nbsp;Got to the end of the Giants and was like who the heck is &nbsp;<span style="background-color: white; color: #292f33; font-family: &quot;helvetica neue&quot; , &quot;helvetica&quot; , &quot;arial&quot; , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">リャオ・レンレイ?</span>&nbsp;&nbsp;and it seems to be&nbsp;<a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=liao--000jen">Jen-Lei Liao</a>&nbsp;who played in the Pittsburgh Pirates system for a bit. &nbsp;I thought 201cm/125kg was a typo at first but apparently no.<br /><br /><b>4:40am</b>&nbsp;I am done with the normal grid, for the information I have at my disposal so far. &nbsp;I'm going to circle back and see if I can gather anything up for the empty spots, and if I'm still awake after that, I may try to translate the Ikusei draft, but you know the Fighters don't do that stuff so I'm not usually as interested in it.<br /><br /><b>5:20am</b> I'll do Ikusei tomorrow sometime. &nbsp;Gotta sleep so I can go to work in the "morning".<br /><br />(Ikusei is done now. &nbsp;Wow, there are a LOT of rubber baseball guys in this draft -- not just ikusei -- and a bunch of Senmon Gakko ones too. &nbsp;Senmon Gakko is like a vocational school that people go to after high school to figure out a trade, and it's not typically somewhere you go to play baseball.)Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-24560572949235933742016-09-23T08:13:00.000-07:002016-09-23T08:13:47.237-07:00Movie review/synopsis, "Aozora Yell"<a href="http://aozorayell-movie.jp/"><img src="https://www.toho.co.jp/movie/lineup_images/aozora-movie_thumb3.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div class="p1">I haven’t really seen anything written about this in English so I thought I would at least try to write some kind of review or synopsis. &nbsp;I'm in Japan again for the last two weeks of September, mostly watching baseball, but the country seems to have decided to rain the entire time I'm here.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Yesterday (Sept 22) was yet another rainy day and so the baseball games I wanted to see were rained out, so instead I went to see a movie called Aozora Yell.&nbsp; I had seen posters for this outside Jingu, with a manga-style picture of a high school baseball player and a high school girl with a trumpet.&nbsp; And that is literally all I knew about the movie going in, since I'm not into manga, but it is apparently based on a fairly popular baseball manga that just recently finished.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Funny thing is, I went to see it because I thought it was a baseball movie, but actually, it was about 35% baseball and about 65% marching band.&nbsp; Fortunately, I like baseball movies AND I like band movies (like, “Swing Girls” is still one of my favorite Japanese movies ever).</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">The main character in this movie is a girl named Tsubasa Ono.&nbsp; Tsubasa is short and shy and mostly stares at her feet a lot and has a quiet voice and has very little confidence.&nbsp; She wanted to come to Shirato High School because when she was young, they represented Hokkaido at Koshien (did I mention it takes place in Sapporo? &nbsp;I kinda felt like Shirato is kinda based on Hokkai) and she loved hearing the brass band playing, and vowed that one day she would play trumpet for Shirato at Koshien.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">The other main character in this movie is a boy named Daisuke Yamada.&nbsp; Daisuke is a catcher for the school’s baseball team.&nbsp; Ever since he was very young, he also saw the same Koshien game where Shirato represented Hokkaido, and he also decided that one day he would play at Koshien for Shirato.&nbsp; Daisuke is super-tall (the actor playing him is 185cm, but even in the manga they show him as standing a full head over Tsubasa) and very confident and is such a nice guy that it is actually cartoonish (intact, that is my one issue with the way Ryoma Takeuchi played him — and maybe it’s just the way he is in the manga — but Daisuke has like, no depth at all, he’s just a super cheerful super nice boy with a super smile and a lot of apparent baseball skill).</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Tsubasa and Daisuke first meet when they are entering school at Shirato.&nbsp; The school has their awards display case for brass band next to their awards display case for baseball, and so the two of them are staring at the cases and are both like, in unison, “I’m so glad I’m here, I can’t wait to…” and Daisuke completes the sentence with “play at Koshien” and Tsubasa completes it with “play at the national band competition”.&nbsp; They both laugh and share that they had both seen that same Koshien game as kids and wanted to come to Shirato ever since.&nbsp; Daisuke says, “Well, I’m going to definitely get to Koshien with the baseball team.&nbsp; So when I do, will you be there in the stands cheering for me?” and Tsubasa, in that typical holy-crap-i-cant-believe-this-good-looking-guy-is-talking-to-me way is like “…okay…” and he’s like “Great!&nbsp; It’s a promise!&nbsp; Bye!” and walks off.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Naturally Tsubasa and Daisuke end up in the same homeroom.&nbsp; I almost worried it was going to turn into one of those plots where Tsubasa gets bullied by the popular kids, but instead, after all the students introduce themselves, a really pretty girl named Himari comes up to Tsubasa like “we were at the same middle school!&nbsp; Let’s be friends!”.&nbsp; Himari, also, I cannot figure out her motivation exactly, but her personality is really bright and for whatever reason she really does become friends with Tsubasa.&nbsp; And Himari is like “let’s go hang out after school!” and Tsubasa’s like “…actually I want to join the marching band…” and Himari’s like “omg what, it’s soooooo strict” but then Tsubasa explains that she made that promise to Daisuke and all.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">In the meantime there’s another boy in their homeroom named Kido, who also joins the baseball team with Daisuke.&nbsp; Kido has a huge crush on Himari.&nbsp; He wears glasses and at first it isn't clear what he’s doing baseball-wise but along the way while working with Daisuke as a catcher and best friend, Kido eventually becomes the school’s ace pitcher.&nbsp; (Ironically the actor who played him was also an ace pitcher in rubber baseball at his own high school.)</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Tsubasa goes to join the brass band and it is… difficult.&nbsp; Like, she tells them how she’s there because she wants to cheer the baseball team, and to play trumpet, basically everyone is like “WTF, you should just leave, little girl”.&nbsp; The brass band director (played by Juri Ueno, who I immediately recognized as having played Nodame Cantabile 10 years ago — holy crap) is like “Can you inflate this fuusen balloon from zero?&nbsp; No?&nbsp; Come back when you can.”</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">So Tsubasa goes off and trains to get better lung capacity and eventually comes back and joins the club, and they start teaching her to play trumpet, and so on.&nbsp; I found this part actually pretty unbelievable because I joined marching band in college having not played a brass instrument before, and they started me on euphonium, and while I was able to learn to play a B flat scale in 3 weeks and marched with the band that semester, it took me a LONG time to be able to play decently, AND there is no way I could do that with a trumpet.&nbsp; Trumpet playing is HARD.&nbsp; The embouchure alone is tough to master, let alone playing it in different registers and making it sound good.&nbsp; But whatever, it’s a manga and a movie and so of course she magically becomes adequate within a relatively short period of time.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Of course, all of the band members are kind of jerks towards her, or at least many are.&nbsp; There’s a boy named Mizushima who entered the band and already gets all the trumpet solos even as a freshman because he’s just that damn good.&nbsp; He’s also just that damn big an asshole, and pretty much almost everything he says to Tsubasa in the first year of the movie is something to the effect of “why won’t you quit the band already, you suck”.&nbsp; He is somehow the only boy in the trumpet section (to be fair — the JHS I taught at, the brass band club was entirely female as well, so I guess it’s not that weird that 70% of their brass band club in the movie is female).&nbsp; The section leader is named Kasuga and she apparently is REALLY pissed that the school hasn’t won a gold medal in the 3 years she’s been there.&nbsp; There’s a girl named Mori who is really good at trumpet but sprains her wrist at some point in the movie and then hides it from the rest of the band (but Tsubasa sees her leaving the doctor’s office, and Mori threatens her if she tells anyone).</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Anyway, despite all this, Tsubasa does persevere and stays in the band and does her best, and Daisuke does his best in the baseball club, and as freshmen, they do go to the prefectural final game, where Shirato barely loses the game, and it’s at least somewhat Daisuke’s fault.&nbsp; His senpai gives him batting gloves that he wrote “go to Koshien” on.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Written artifacts are kind of a thing in this movie.&nbsp; There’s the gloves, and also, one of the days when Tsubasa is crying in their homeroom after getting yelled at by Mizushima and the rest of the trumpet players, Daisuke comes up to her and draws a happy face on her shoes like “look, you can stare at your shoes… and when you do, you can think of me and get courage”.&nbsp; Also, a side plot is that during a festival, Tsubasa and Daisuke get pushed together date-like by Himari and Kido (in a somewhat funny scene where the two of them are spying on Tsubasa and Daisuke and Kido is like “hey you know… we could also go out together huh?” and Himari’s like “haha very funny I have no interest in you silly boy”).&nbsp; So Tsubasa and Daisuke go off to write ema — the wooden prayer tablets — and Tsubasa writes hers as “aim for the National Band Competition”.&nbsp; Daisuke won’t show her his, but (spoiler) later in the movie she comes back to the shrine to pray for him after he gets injured, and it turns out he’s written a bunch of them over the years that all say “I want to take Tsubasa to Koshien”.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">At the end of freshman summer Tsubasa does confess to Daisuke that she loves him and he’s like “I’m really sorry but I have to focus on baseball”.&nbsp; And Kido and everyone are like “are you an idiot?&nbsp; you clearly like her and she likes you and…”</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Time cuts to two years later.&nbsp; They are all 3rd-years and the brass band still hasn’t made it to nationals and neither has the baseball team.&nbsp; Daisuke is captain of the baseball team, Mizushima is the president of the brass band club, and Tsubasa still kinda sorta sucks at trumpet but is doing her best (but, of course, she ends up like, mentoring a freshman on how to play better, and that freshman makes the cut for ensembles while Tsubasa doesn’t).&nbsp; There’s a new manager girl in the baseball club named Akane who has a huge crush on Daisuke, so she’s always telling Tsubasa to get lost whenever she comes to watch the team play.&nbsp; (She eventually comes to her senses when she sees how much Daisuke actually likes Tsubasa and gets inspired by the marching band but it takes a while, and until then she’s a total bitch, but I’ve seen that plot before so it was pretty obvious what would happen).</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I’m going to cut out on the synopsis here for two reasons: 1) it really would be spoiling the ending if I tell what happens during their 3rd year, and 2) I have no more time to write this right now, so if I leave it hanging, I won’t get around to posting it.&nbsp; Suffice it to say that it is a happy ending and almost every one of these plots and characters gets tied up in a way that is beneficial for them (although it is never clear whether Kido and Himari ever hook up or not). &nbsp;</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">I enjoyed this movie because I enjoy cheesy Japanese high school baseball movies.&nbsp; Also, even though Daisuke has so little depth as a human being, Ryoma Takeuchi is so adorable that it’s worth watching anyway, even if he seriously looks like a living manga character (you have to see him smile).</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><div class="p1">Tsubasa is a surprisingly deep female character to be honest — while her growth from shy mousy freshman into confident senior is what you expect out of the movie, I felt like her conflicts were real and her emotions were real, and only mildly cartoonish, all things considered.&nbsp; When Daisuke turns her down the first time she is distraught, but he says he wants to be friends and she does her best to stay friends with him, even saying at one point like “does it bother you that I’ve said I like you?”&nbsp; Tsubasa also takes a lot of shit from Mizushima and yet she keeps trying to get him to crack his stubbornness and his gloominess, and finally does get him to smile and to work with her and to bring the band together.&nbsp; Like, she has some real moments where you don’t expect her to be the one who steps out to support the upperclassmen who have been terrible to her, but she does.</div><div class="p2"><br /></div><br /><div class="p1">If you’re not into predictable cheesy Japanese high school movies based on shoujo manga, though, this definitely is not the movie for you.&nbsp; You’ll cringe every time Daisuke smiles, you’ll want to smack Tsubasa for having no backbone, and you’ll find everything in it pretty predictable.</div>Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-23733225063995419322016-02-13T01:59:00.002-08:002016-02-13T02:03:55.067-08:00Fighters Spring Camp - Two-Shot Friday!I mean, that's not an official thing or anything, but I was surprisingly lucky today in getting photos with and talking to a whole ton of really interesting and awesome people!<br /><br />Yesterday was an off day for the team, so Dani and I went to tour Chase Field. &nbsp;I'm not going to write a separate entry about it (maybe some other time), but it cost $7 and we got to go all around the concourse (and past the pool in CF!), down into the visitor's clubhouse and bullpen, into the press room, up to the Diamond Level suites, and then down onto the field for a bit (well, standing on the warning track in front of the dugout). &nbsp;I've been on several stadium tours now, and I think this one you at least certainly get your bang for your buck.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_P3Q6KbItEU/Vr7hSzicB_I/AAAAAAAHj28/ayvVtFTucjo/s1600/IMG_7056%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_P3Q6KbItEU/Vr7hSzicB_I/AAAAAAAHj28/ayvVtFTucjo/s400/IMG_7056%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />At the end of the tour, we went into the gift shop. &nbsp;I didn't really want to get anything big, since I know I won't wear a Diamondbacks t-shirt, but I got a small Chase Field pin, AND this is relevant a bit later, I saw that they had Diamondbacks chapstick, and so I bought one for Kagiya. &nbsp;(This sounds weird unless you watch enough Fighters variety shows like Dani does and find out that he actually <a href="http://www.plus-blog.sportsnavi.com/fxfblog/article/684">has a problem with dry lips</a> and is always carrying around chapstick in his pocket. &nbsp;Dani even gave him a bunch of chapsticks earlier in the week and is probably going to kill me for mentioning that here.)<br /><br />After getting back to Peoria, the only Fighters-related thing that happened to me for the rest of the day was, I went to the nearby mall to get food, and... nearly walked right into Hiromi Oka out on the concourse. &nbsp;I said hi, but he ignored me. &nbsp;Probably he was as surprised anyone recognized him as I was to see him. &nbsp;At the food court, then, I saw Takumi Ohshima and Yuya Taniguchi standing at the Jamba Juice with Takahiro Nomo (Hideo's son, and a translator for the Fighters). &nbsp;I wasn't really sure what to do other than to pretend I didn't see them and move on. &nbsp;It isn't surprising that several of the guys on the team would spend their off day shopping; it's a typical hobby for young Japanese men, and I'm sure they wanted to bring back some souvenirs to Japan.<br /><br />Today, Friday, was my last full day in Peoria, as I'm flying out tomorrow evening. &nbsp;It was another practice day, so I packed light. &nbsp;I got to the stadium, got out of the car, and thought that my bag seemed a little TOO light -- get this, I had prepared my dSLR camera and then completely not taken it with me when I left the hotel. &nbsp;Oops. &nbsp;I figured I could maybe go back for it at lunchtime, but for now I wanted to enjoy the craziness of the morning practice session.<br /><br />And believe me, it was CRAZY. &nbsp;Do you want to know why? &nbsp;This is why:<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7hPVPEmSDTE/Vr7kqwNTy3I/AAAAAAAHj3I/zGzux-R90F4/s1600/IMG_7076%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7hPVPEmSDTE/Vr7kqwNTy3I/AAAAAAAHj3I/zGzux-R90F4/s400/IMG_7076%2Bcopy.JPG" width="300" /></a><br /><br />Yes, Yu Darvish came to visit camp this morning. &nbsp;Some of the fans didn't seem surprised -- he had apparently either mentioned it on Twitter or it had surfaced in the media that he would stop by camp at SOME point during the two weeks, but nobody knew when.<br /><br />Ohtani must have been relieved since for an hour or so this means the media throng was following somebody else around for a change.<br /><br />So that was sort of nuts. &nbsp;Darvish walked around mostly inside Field 6 and the bullpen area and seemed to just be hanging out watching stuff. &nbsp;Also in exciting things, Romash Tasuku Dass, if you remember him (he was a half-Indian Fighters pitcher that got cut from the team after 2011), was hanging around camp as part of Darvish's entourage. &nbsp;I actually did say hi to him like "Long time no see, what are you up to now?" and he basically said he's working as an assistant for Darvish.<br /><br />Eventually Darvish got whisked off on a cart and things got back to "normal", whatever that means. &nbsp;I talked to a whole bunch of random fans in the morning, and I also met <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=werman000kei">Keith Werman</a>, who played in the Mariners system for a year or two and is now working for the Fighters and Padres and apparently helped facilitate the Fighters coming to the USA. &nbsp;(There aren't many non-Japanese people around in camp with Fighters gear; 99% of the non-Japanese people around are either scouts or are random Peoria people who just came by to see what was going on because they're regulars at the PSC. &nbsp;So I wondered what his story was and decided to just ask.)<br /><br />I caught Kagiya as he was coming off the field at one point and was like "Hey-we-went-to-the-Diamondbacks-stadium-and-I-saw-this-lip-cream-at-the-store-and-thought-of-you-so-here-you-go-it's-major-league-lip-cream" and gave him the chapstick. &nbsp;He laughed and thanked me. &nbsp;I guess that was a success.<br /><br />The foreign pitchers all kind of came off the field at the same time so I asked Chris Martin and Anthony Bass if I could get photos with them, and I also managed to get Kuriyama-kantoku, and then Luis Mendoza came out and we chatted about basketball for a while! &nbsp;That was really cool. &nbsp;He said that he went to the game with two of the other players (Nakamura and I forgot who the other one was). &nbsp;I was like "Didn't the rest of the team go to a hockey game?" and he was like "Yeah, but I wanted to see the Warriors, they're such a good team, it's fun to watch Stephen Curry play and all."<br /><br />Bizarrely there was another fan there -- a Japanese woman who lives in Arizona now but used to live near me in the Bay Area -- who had also been at the game! &nbsp;That was pretty random.<br /><br />(I didn't find Dani until almost noon, so I ended up making friends with a whole bunch of random other Japanese fans who were around, because I needed to bug someone to take photos for me. &nbsp;And people were interesting -- one woman was there with her son, because her husband was cooking the meals for the Fighters. &nbsp;Another woman, a Masui fan, had come in from Osaka for the weekend and told me she was going to Okinawa next weekend. &nbsp;Another man, Tanaka-san, had lived in Arizona for a few years so his English was pretty good and we ended up hanging out together for a lot of the day just because we were always in the same place.)<br /><br />I kind of intended to leave and go back to the hotel around then, but interesting things kept happening. &nbsp;For example, a bunch of umpires showed up at the field and were hanging around! &nbsp;Curiosity got the best of me so I chatted with them for a while. &nbsp;They said that umpires do have spring training too, of course, and so they were also going to work out with the team for the afternoon. &nbsp;I mentioned how I could immediately tell during the game that they had Japanese umpires there because of the way they called the strikes (it sounds like "TORAAAAAAII"), and they were joking how one of the umpires is the "quiet man" because he doesn't do that. &nbsp;I dunno, it was funny. &nbsp;I got a photo with the younger one, Tomoya Ishiyama, number 25:<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u5hEHue7jRE/Vr7p-fKFgeI/AAAAAAAHj3Y/PYwEFHF9qqs/s1600/IMG_7111%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u5hEHue7jRE/Vr7p-fKFgeI/AAAAAAAHj3Y/PYwEFHF9qqs/s400/IMG_7111%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />I dunno, I have several friends who are big fans of some of the umpires, crazy as that sounds. &nbsp;And of course, I've always kept an eye on Kengo Iwashita since he graduated from the Hosei baseball team and became an umpire as well. &nbsp;And one of my old junior high school students is currently studying to become an umpire too, crazy as that sounds!<br /><br />A little bit after that, I guess to start preparing for fielding practice in the afternoon, Makoto Kaneko came out to the field we were hanging out next to, and I was like "Kaneko-saaaaan" and he was like "chotto matte ne?" and then when he came back I asked if we could get a photo and holy crap he said okay!<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0NblUgRQFLs/Vr7q4flm7UI/AAAAAAAHj3g/-u4BHzmkFbA/s1600/IMG_7113%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0NblUgRQFLs/Vr7q4flm7UI/AAAAAAAHj3g/-u4BHzmkFbA/s400/IMG_7113%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />I had seriously been all prepared to pull out the pouting "But I even wore my Kaneko shirt todaaaay" like I had done on Saitoh the other day, except I didn't even need to!<br /><br />So at that point I was like "Great! &nbsp;Now I can leave for lunch and go get my camera so I can take pictures at afternoon fielding practice and all," and so Dani and I walked from Field 6 over to Field 4, just to see what was going on there on the way out. &nbsp;And so Tanaka-san was hanging out there, AND we all went over and got a photo with Takashi Saito, who was surprisingly nice as well!<br /><br />And then I got to talking with this older guy from Minnesota who spends his winters in Arizona -- his name was Duane and he is also relevant to this story quite a bit -- he was saying how he'd seen us at the game the other day, and was also saying how he'd been sitting with Seguignol and with Matt Winters, and I was like "dang, I've always wanted to meet Matt Winters, he's such a legend within the team."<br /><br />"Well -- Matt's right over there, why don't you say hi to him?"<br /><br />"Wait WHAT?"<br /><br />And he points out a guy in a blue polo shirt and calls out like "Hey Matt, this girl wanted to meet you."<br /><br />And Matt Winters, legendary Fighters outfielder of the 90's and scout for the last ten years comes over and is like "HEY! &nbsp;You're the girl who wrote the Fighters blog for all those years! &nbsp;I was such a big fan, why did you stop writing?"<br /><br />If you've ever met me, you know that I am rarely speechless -- infact, usually completely the opposite -- but for once I really had no idea what to say! &nbsp;I mean, my friends still wear their "Winters 10" jerseys sometimes! &nbsp;And he had read my blog to keep up with things back in the day! &nbsp;How crazy is that?<br /><br />I ended up talking to Matt for about an hour or so. &nbsp;It was just really awesome. &nbsp;He is completely full of crazy stories about both playing for the Fighters as well as scouting for the Fighters. &nbsp;Like he would tell funny stories about him and Rick Schu and Kip Gross and all hanging out back in the day, and then talk about things like how he just happened to see Brian Sweeney pitching in Omaha one day and said "This guy is perfect, we need a pitcher, can we get him?" &nbsp;And, oh man, Matt brought up the entire <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2009/01/apology-to-jason-botts-and-other.html">Jason Botts debacle</a> that I may have partially contributed to back in 2008-9. &nbsp;That was about as nostalgic and embarrassing as my blogging history gets, certainly.<br /><br />Matt eventually had to actually run off and talk to some more relevant people, so I went to sit back down with Dani and Tanaka (who had gotten a photo and autograph from Winters as well), and he's like "So you wrote a blog about the Fighters? &nbsp;In English? &nbsp;Can you give me the URL?" and so we traded business cards, and I wrote this blog's URL on the back of mine, and then something even weirder happened:<br /><br />A guy behind me is like "HEY! &nbsp;Did I just hear you wrote a Fighters blog? &nbsp;Are you Deanna?"<br /><br />And that guy turns out to be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Evans_(baseball)">Dan Evans</a>. &nbsp;Yes, former GM for the Dodgers and such. &nbsp;We follow each other on Twitter.<br /><br />And then he's also like "Do you know if the other girl, Dani, is she here?"<br /><br />Dani was standing next to me talking to someone else in the stands so I'm like "Dani! &nbsp;Turn around, this is Dan Evans, you need to say hi to him!"<br /><br />And he's like "Can I get a photo with you guys? &nbsp;We <i>have</i> to put this on Twitter."<br /><br />(Yes, you read that right. &nbsp;An MLB executive asked if <i>he</i> could get his photo with <i>us</i>. &nbsp;Like I said, this day couldn't possibly get any weirder.)<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dk-bOU3hmrA/Vr7vn_YWoFI/AAAAAAAHj3w/JghnW6gUOn4/s1600/IMG_7123%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dk-bOU3hmrA/Vr7vn_YWoFI/AAAAAAAHj3w/JghnW6gUOn4/s400/IMG_7123%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />No, seriously, Dan is a very cool guy and it was great to meet him and chat with him for a while. &nbsp;Like Matt, he also had real relevant work to be doing and people to talk to besides a bunch of crazy fangirls, but he said it was great to meet us and that he learns lots of interesting NPB gossip from following us.<br /><br />Next thing that happened was, there was this half-Japanese boy there wearing a Kansai little league t-shirt. &nbsp;I didn't get why this was relevant until Sho Nakata came out of BP, saw the kid, gave him a big hug and a baseball bat and his batting gloves, and of course the whole media was very WTF over this. &nbsp;The Fighters official photographer even took a picture of them together, and they were chatting together for a few minutes. &nbsp;So while the media swarmed Sho, I asked the boy what his story was, and he was like "Oh yeah, I grew up in Kansai and I played at the same little league that Sho played in, a few years later, and he visited us, and so now I'm here in Arizona in college and Sho invited me to come out to see him at camp."<br /><br />And my jaw dropped like "That is so awesome! &nbsp;You're so lucky and I hope you're enjoying it!"<br /><br />And before I could ask more, the media swarmed up to him to ask him a bazillion questions, so I excused myself and went back to sit down.<br /><br />I noticed that the Fighters' director of operations, Toshi Shimada, was standing near us so I said hi to him -- not that I'd ever spoken to him before, but I was basically like "Matt Winters was talking about you!" and he laughed like "Yeah, I think Matt's bitter that I get to boss him around now unlike the old days," since he was Matt's interpreter, and then he was like "Oh, and I saw you on TV the other night with the Kagiya jersey," and I was like "I hope you don't think I'm too stupid," and he said no, it was nice of me to be such a big fan. &nbsp;And we got to talking for a while, about the future of the team coming back to Arizona and some other stuff. &nbsp;His take on it all was pretty funny -- like, the players were a lot more enthusiastic their first few days in the US but are now kinda like "let's go home already", but he also said that of course, when they go to Okinawa, it'll be the same way -- a few days of "woo Okinawa!" and then a week of "Okay, let's go home already".<br /><br />So that was cool too. &nbsp;I feel like this week has been great for getting to meet people all across the Fighters organization, from the players to the staff to the front office.<br /><br />By this time it was already 2:30, and I was starving, but there was no point in leaving. &nbsp;I was talking to Duane again, the guy from Minnesota who had introduced me to Matt Winters, and Duane mentioned that since he had the season tickets to the normal Peoria spring training, he had gotten comped tickets for the Fighters vs. Lotte Giants cames on Monday and Wednesday. &nbsp;And I was like "Are you kidding me? &nbsp;That's so cool, those shouldn't even exist!"<br /><br />"Wait, do you want them? &nbsp;I'll go get them for you. &nbsp;I'm probably just going to throw them out, but a super fan like you, you should get them signed or something, put them in a scrapbook of this trip!"<br /><br />And he seriously said he'd meet me back by the front gates in about 15-20 minutes with them. &nbsp;Dani and Tanaka and I walked out there a bit later since practice was winding down anyway, and... and he showed up with the tickets! &nbsp;He had two for Monday and two for Wednesday, so I kept one of each and gave one to Dani and one to Tanaka (it's not like I needed four, but having one of each day was kind of awesome).<br /><br />And finally at THAT point I went and got something to eat, dropped off some things at my hotel, put on more sunscreen, and came back to wait around for players to come out.<br /><br />Except it turned out they were having some big party that evening - a barbecue with some Padres people, supposedly including Trevor Hoffman. &nbsp;So after waiting for like an hour none of the players had come out, and we were all a little worried. &nbsp;Two girls in particular, they were both leaving tomorrow morning and had bought Valentine's presents for Taniguchi and Nakashima, and were a little despondent.<br /><br />Eventually all of the players did come back through to go to their party. &nbsp;Well, most of them anyway. &nbsp;We never did see Nakashima. &nbsp;But Taniguchi came by and I got him to sign one of my tickets, and I got Kaneko (!) of all people to sign the other. &nbsp;So that worked out. &nbsp;I spent a while talking to all the people there, and I hope they managed to find the players they wanted to see, or otherwise had good evenings. &nbsp;I did feel really sorry for the Nakashima fan girl. &nbsp;I left around 6pm when it became dark.<br /><br />Okay. &nbsp;I don't have any action photos from the day, so you're going to get a ton of my two-shots with people plus a funny Ohtani pouty face in the dugout. &nbsp;Enjoy!<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HkCDF618lEI/Vr74a2oravI/AAAAAAAHj4A/8w7Ux_yoMfA/s1600/IMG_7069%2Bcopy.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HkCDF618lEI/Vr74a2oravI/AAAAAAAHj4A/8w7Ux_yoMfA/s400/IMG_7069%2Bcopy.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />Yukihiro Nishizaki retired a year or two before I started following NPB, but he's often been around as a commentator on Fighters TV. &nbsp;I saw him pitch in the Master's League once.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FgS0DKrVeOI/Vr74mnfCnAI/AAAAAAAHj4E/IY_Clr_UFrA/s1600/IMG_7082%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FgS0DKrVeOI/Vr74mnfCnAI/AAAAAAAHj4E/IY_Clr_UFrA/s400/IMG_7082%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />There were some holes in the dugout fence wall, so I poked my camera in to see what I could see, and came out with a pouty Ohtani face.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhVbuljhVVo/Vr744G6GY8I/AAAAAAAHj4M/xHCTCmP4R8s/s1600/IMG_7089%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yhVbuljhVVo/Vr744G6GY8I/AAAAAAAHj4M/xHCTCmP4R8s/s400/IMG_7089%2Bcopy.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Chris Martin is much taller than me.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bsz0nXAJ4H8/Vr74xFKgyaI/AAAAAAAHj4I/n7KTt0k7x0E/s1600/IMG_7092%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bsz0nXAJ4H8/Vr74xFKgyaI/AAAAAAAHj4I/n7KTt0k7x0E/s400/IMG_7092%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Anthony Bass is only mildly much taller than me. &nbsp;:)<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EyhF1QBEAXs/Vr744cEOtrI/AAAAAAAHj4Q/CQ1b3vGgG5Y/s1600/IMG_7095%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EyhF1QBEAXs/Vr744cEOtrI/AAAAAAAHj4Q/CQ1b3vGgG5Y/s400/IMG_7095%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Manager Kuriyama!<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LPNmzVXVtXk/Vr79gDHjxAI/AAAAAAAHj5A/zZP_MSL_5fM/s1600/IMG_7097%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LPNmzVXVtXk/Vr79gDHjxAI/AAAAAAAHj5A/zZP_MSL_5fM/s400/IMG_7097%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Recently retired Satoshi Nakajima, who has been parading around in Padres gear all week<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VXa7l9bnTd4/Vr747r_FmjI/AAAAAAAHj4U/sREQ4QJq0tY/s1600/IMG_7114%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VXa7l9bnTd4/Vr747r_FmjI/AAAAAAAHj4U/sREQ4QJq0tY/s400/IMG_7114%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Takashi Saito! &nbsp;Who actually has every right to parade around in Padres gear, or several other teams :)<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0zj-UFcH6wI/Vr75M5RJSuI/AAAAAAAHj4g/izp6FzVQ4LY/s1600/IMG_7118%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0zj-UFcH6wI/Vr75M5RJSuI/AAAAAAAHj4g/izp6FzVQ4LY/s400/IMG_7118%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Matt Winters!<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WrNwMwM8nmg/Vr75Jk0u3KI/AAAAAAAHj4c/SmrPStjXZ5s/s1600/IMG_7119%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WrNwMwM8nmg/Vr75Jk0u3KI/AAAAAAAHj4c/SmrPStjXZ5s/s400/IMG_7119%2Bcopy.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Winters still signs the way he did when he was a player, with number 10 and his name in katakana and all. &nbsp;Tanaka thought that was really cool (he's been a Fighters fan for 25 years so he actually remembers Matt as a player!).<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0ITpSpjFsVc/Vr75mQucXqI/AAAAAAAHj4w/jJt09biowow/s1600/IMG_7125%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0ITpSpjFsVc/Vr75mQucXqI/AAAAAAAHj4w/jJt09biowow/s400/IMG_7125%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Shota Ohno, who I have seriously wanted to meet <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2008/10/ono-here-we-go-aka-npb-draft-non-live.html">since he was in college</a>. &nbsp;No joke. &nbsp;I just wish I hadn't been so shy back then. &nbsp;Now he's captain again, just like he was at Toyo.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKxQFMjVML8/Vr75lvQ9mFI/AAAAAAAHj4s/exouWKWO_k4/s1600/IMG_7127%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKxQFMjVML8/Vr75lvQ9mFI/AAAAAAAHj4s/exouWKWO_k4/s400/IMG_7127%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Sho Nakata talking to the boy from his little league.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zVCpsnCjbI4/Vr79nwhm8HI/AAAAAAAHj5E/sGccaGjOILA/s1600/IMG_6898.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zVCpsnCjbI4/Vr79nwhm8HI/AAAAAAAHj5E/sGccaGjOILA/s400/IMG_6898.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Hayao Segawa, who I'd never met before, and I couldn't find my camera at the time, so this was taken with my cellphone. &nbsp;He was nice and waited a second for me while I scrambled to find something to take the picture with after I asked. &nbsp;Segawa's one of the oldest rookies the team's ever had, but he's also from Hokkai HS originally so I hope he's successful with the team!<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iJFPFw8v7D8/Vr75je-C3aI/AAAAAAAHj4o/S4soojHdbU4/s1600/IMG_7132.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iJFPFw8v7D8/Vr75je-C3aI/AAAAAAAHj4o/S4soojHdbU4/s400/IMG_7132.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />And last but not least -- these are those tickets that Duane gave me! &nbsp;He said to go get 'em signed and put them in my scrapbook, so here they are! &nbsp;It's really neat having tickets to a game that didn't have tickets. &nbsp;:) &nbsp;The Japanese fans were all calling these "幻のチケット", like when you have tickets to a postseason game that doesn't happen, that sort of thing. Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-64991644307091094032016-02-11T20:41:00.000-08:002016-02-11T21:00:43.535-08:00Fighters Spring Camp Day 3 - Bravo Fighters and Other Game Day CrazinessToday camp featured another game between the KBO Giants and the Fighters. &nbsp;Same teams from Monday's game, although this time they switched which uniforms they were wearing, so I have a completely new set of pictures that I'm never going to finish going through.<br /><br />I slept in slightly this morning, by which I mean I got to practice around 10:15, by which point they were already winding down to get ready for the game. &nbsp;BUT, I did get to catch up with Fernando Seguignol for a while, which totally made my day. &nbsp;This winter I spent a week in Costa Rica over the holidays, and there were bananas everywhere, and I kept telling my fiance about how we used to have this player on the Fighters who was from Panama and people would wave bananas during his at-bat -- and well, get this, when I mentioned it to Seggy, it turns out I was in the part of Costa Rica that is only a few miles away from his hometown in Panama! &nbsp;How crazy is that?<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--WSXYpvcV3c/Vrwsag00U-I/AAAAAAAHjxc/Jxwz2QMz2fk/s1600/IMG_6913%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--WSXYpvcV3c/Vrwsag00U-I/AAAAAAAHjxc/Jxwz2QMz2fk/s400/IMG_6913%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />After that Dave and I wandered over to the main field. &nbsp;On the way we saw Kagiya running in the Field #3 outfield, and I was looking over at him, and he smiled and waved at me while I was debating if I should wave or not! &nbsp;So I felt like slightly less of a big dork smiling and waving back at him. &nbsp;That was good.<br /><br />The posted "<a href="http://www.fighters.co.jp/team/camp/2016/spring/menu/0210.pdf">menu</a>" for the day actually had the lineups for the game on it, so that meant I also knew that Ohtani would pitch two innings, then Arihara 2, then Yagi 2, then Segawa, Inui, and Kanehira each 1. &nbsp;I feel kind of silly for not having looked at it on Monday, since I would have known Kagiya was pitching too. &nbsp;Go figure.<br /><br />We did enter the stadium at opening, although despite there being a lot more people for the game due to Ohtani starting, those people were mostly scouts and sat behind home plate, so we had no competition to sit behind the dugout. &nbsp;So, I set up behind the dugout, behind the opening in the fence, and put up my Ohtani towel that I brought with me that day, with the idea that in theory he'd have to see it when he came back to the dugout.<br /><br />Then I hung out for a while just taking photos and stuff. &nbsp;Dani didn't come until around 11:40, so it was a little harder to go around as we only had two of us to watch stuff. &nbsp;So like, at one point, Sho Nakata threw a ball far back into the stands and I was like "Oh, that was at Inaba," so Dave ran off to get Inaba's signature, for example.<br /><br />I spent about ten minutes really wanting to say something to Kaneko and finally at some point when there was a lull in the pre-game stuff and he was just kind of standing around I called down to him,<br /><br />金子さああああああん！ &nbsp;(Kaneko-saaaan!)<br />はい？ &nbsp;(Hmm?)<br />アメリカに来てくれてありがとうございます！ &nbsp;(Thank you for coming to the US!)<br />ああ、どうも。 (Oh, sure.)<br />来年も来てください！！ &nbsp;(Please come back next year!!)<br />（笑） (laughs)<br /><br />I'm somewhat jealous since Dave managed to get Kaneko's autograph before I showed up this morning, but that's beside the point.<br /><br />Anyway, I was able to run and get a hot dog and drink from concessions before the game started, which was good -- and they even had souvenir cups for Padres/Mariners spring training, so I got one of those, and asked them for as much ice as possible, and it ended up lasting me all game!<br /><br />Let's see if I can sum up the game to mention the things people might actually care about that happened. &nbsp;I mean, overall it ended up being a 1-1 game, so not a lot of scoring to speak of. &nbsp;The Fighters run came in the 6th inning when Haruki Nishikawa led off with a double and scored on a single by Go Matsumoto. &nbsp;The Giants run came in the 9th inning when Dong Su Kang led off with what ended up being a triple into left-center, and scored on a single by Yeung Sek Son. &nbsp;I pretty much completely lost track of which Giants pitcher was on the mound when, so I don't know who gave up the Fighters run, but I do know that Masashi Kanehira gave up the Giants run.<br /><br />Shohei Ohtani pitched the first two innings. &nbsp;He faced 7 batters and it basically went: Fly out to center, ground out to short, single to right, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout, strikeout.<br /><br />I know this sounds lame, but I just don't know enough about the Lotte Giants to know what to say about them. &nbsp;There was a somewhat funny moment when Jun Seok Choi, the Lotte DH who is around 6' and 235 pounds and thus looks utterly not Asian in build, hit what could have and maybe should have been a double, but since he was lumbering around the basepath he got tagged out on a 9-4 play before he actually got to second base.<br /><br />Ryo Watanabe looked really good at second base, I have a bunch of stars next to plays he made for various reasons I can't remember now (although one I remember being him jumping to catch a line fly).<br /><br />Speaking of Ryo, they had in a row in the lineup Ryo Ishikawa, Ryo Watanabe, and Ryosuke Kishisato, or as Dani was saying, the "Ryo Trio", because the announcer kept pronouncing their name like "Rio Ishikawa". &nbsp;So I was singing "His name is Rio and he dances on the sand..."<br /><br />Apart from game action, most of the wackiness of today arose from when I decided to go for a walk around the 5th-6th inning. &nbsp;This was mostly because I realized that I wasn't really going to get to see the stadium if all I did was sit behind the Fighters dugout the whole time. &nbsp;Also, it was really hot out, so I thought taking a break in the shade for a bit would be nice.<br /><br />This turned out to be my downfall, as basically, I went to stand in the shade for a minute and I ended up getting approached from this guy with a big TV camera, and he was like (in English) "Hi, I'm with a TV show, can I ask you a question?" but I was looking at the board he was holding, which said "Who would you choose as your boyfriend?" which is a variation of a TV segment "恋人選び", which I know I've seen at least one version of. &nbsp;Like, sometimes it's "which member of AKB48?" or "which guy on the national soccer team?" and so on, and they survey a bunch of people and try to figure out the most popular.<br /><br />So, Bravo Fighters was going to do this in Arizona and ask random American women to look at a group of Fighters players and choose someone.<br /><br />Except that I am the least random American woman you could possibly find there. &nbsp;Which should have been obvious by my custom signed pinned pimped-up Fighters gear, but maybe not.<br /><br />He shows me this board:<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HFw_lPIy45U/VrxKj-OME_I/AAAAAAAHjyI/SY-So5jZNOA/s1600/IMG_6930%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HFw_lPIy45U/VrxKj-OME_I/AAAAAAAHjyI/SY-So5jZNOA/s400/IMG_6930%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a> <br /><br />and I'm thinking, like, there are several Fighters players I find quite adorable and charming, except ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THEM ARE ON THIS BOARD. &nbsp;I wonder if they put it together for "guys we think might be appealing to American women", because there's no way you'd do this for Japanese women without including Taniguchi.<br /><br />So I answer, "Huh? &nbsp;Kagiya's not on there?"<br /><br />And he's like "Kagiya?"<br /><br />I turn around to show him my uniform like "Yeah, he's my favorite player, the pitcher, number 30".<br /><br />"Oh, sorry. &nbsp;No, no Kagiya. &nbsp;How about out of this list of guys?"<br /><br />I pause for a bit. &nbsp;"Huh, I don't know. &nbsp;Maybe Sugiya?"<br /><br />"Okay, Sugiya. &nbsp;Why Sugiya?"<br /><br />"Because he's really funny. &nbsp;He's always laughing and makes me laugh a lot."<br /><br />Anyway, I told him he should wait for my friend to get back since she's wearing a Nishikawa uniform, and sure enough Dani came by and I had him interview her too, and she didn't even know what happened during my exchange but also picked Sugiya.<br /><br />He ended up talking to me for a while and filmed part of my scorebook as well, because I was keeping score after we talked, and I showed him how I had some games from the Sapporo Dome last fall, and stickers of guys like Kisanuki on the front, and so on. &nbsp;I'm a big dork, these things happen.<br /><br />When I first started writing this entry I just knew that the segment had aired, which was possibly one of the most mortifyingly embarrassing things to happen to me in a while, since a bunch of friends in Hokkaido emailed or tweeted at me saying they had seen me on TV, and a few even sent screencaps.<br /><br />However! &nbsp;Since I didn't finish this entry before falling asleep, in the morning, someone had found the episode of Bravo Fighters for me on Youtube! &nbsp;So you can watch it all, in its glory. &nbsp;My appearance is at about 12:35, though the entire segment starts at about 11:00 when Ikeda-san explains his idea to do the Koibito-Erabi schtick.<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oivam83ghaA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="399" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Oivam83ghaA?feature=player_embedded" width="480"></iframe><br /><br />Or if you don't feel like watching that video, a few screencaps:<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hy8ZveTSeUs/Vr1FzOhTVGI/AAAAAAAHjzk/nEY2qg02fZ0/s1600/SS1.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Hy8ZveTSeUs/Vr1FzOhTVGI/AAAAAAAHjzk/nEY2qg02fZ0/s400/SS1.png" width="400" /></a><br />Me saying "Ehh? &nbsp;No Kagiya?"<br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pOAx6H6TiTA/Vr1Fzseno-I/AAAAAAAHjzo/6UqP0NzA_Cc/s1600/SS2.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pOAx6H6TiTA/Vr1Fzseno-I/AAAAAAAHjzo/6UqP0NzA_Cc/s400/SS2.png" width="400" /></a><br />They subtitled me as a "Big Kagiya Fan"<br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Pp9c8ibD-8/Vr1Fz3SGLII/AAAAAAAHjzs/xgbZNpCAH44/s1600/SS3.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--Pp9c8ibD-8/Vr1Fz3SGLII/AAAAAAAHjzs/xgbZNpCAH44/s400/SS3.png" width="400" /></a><br />Captioned as "Fighters fan since the Tokyo Dome era"<br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zWvvO7Dv4UI/Vr1F21wcWFI/AAAAAAAHjzw/H_yelI5cdpU/s1600/SS4.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zWvvO7Dv4UI/Vr1F21wcWFI/AAAAAAAHjzw/H_yelI5cdpU/s400/SS4.png" width="400" /></a><br />Me saying "Well, Sugiya is the funniest guy..."<br /><br />Yeah.<br /><br />Oh, also, if you watch the rest of the clip, you might notice the first half is all about Ohtani's start, and all the scouts who showed up to watch him, and Dani and I make a brief cameo at 2:47 or so with our cameras out behind my Ohtani towel hanging from the dugout:<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-61HFQsMx0/Vr1HT2XafkI/AAAAAAAHjz8/trMvW12WQ1E/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-02-11%2Bat%2B7.22.54%2BPM.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G-61HFQsMx0/Vr1HT2XafkI/AAAAAAAHjz8/trMvW12WQ1E/s400/Screen%2BShot%2B2016-02-11%2Bat%2B7.22.54%2BPM.png" width="400" /></a><br /><br />So aside from telling the entire island of Hokkaido about my crush on Kagiya, the other funny thing that happened while walking around was that Dani and I ran into Minivish, the somewhat infamous Yu Darvish cosplayer who's been around for the last few years. &nbsp;He's from Ibaraki but lives in LA; I met him a few times before, like in Oakland and also at Yankee Stadium for days Darvish was starting.<br /><br />Before the game, actually, a bunch of Fighters players were pointing and laughing like "Hey, there's that crazy Darvish cosplayer", and someone else at the game even tweeted how <a href="https://twitter.com/mikaotx/status/697486074101133312">WOW MINIVISH IS HERE</a> by taking a photo of him talking to me.<br /><br />So Dani and I went to chase down Minivish and next thing we know he's getting filmed for a segment on Bravo Fighters as well, although obviously not asking who he'd choose as his boyfriend.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t6Ou3tD1JFE/VrxPfoYqf6I/AAAAAAAHjys/iC-F2SZA4ck/s1600/IMG_6939.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t6Ou3tD1JFE/VrxPfoYqf6I/AAAAAAAHjys/iC-F2SZA4ck/s400/IMG_6939.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />After all of that excitement I just walked around the stands for an inning or so. &nbsp;Made it all the way to the bullpens in right field, where we saw Hakumura walk by and said hi, and then Dani went back to the seats and I walked to the left field area. &nbsp;There's a lounge there that looks really nice, but it wasn't open for the game.<br /><br />I came back to our seats and mostly didn't move again for the rest of the game for fear I would manage to embarrass myself even more.<br /><br />As mentioned, the game ended in a 1-1 tie. &nbsp;Knowing this time that we'd get thrown out of the stadium pretty quickly afterwards, rather than dawdling behind the dugout until we got ejected, Dani and Dave and I went up to the area behind home plate and took some photos with the stadium in the background and stuff. &nbsp;Then Dave left, since he had to pack up to head back east afterwards. &nbsp;Dani and I went into the Peoria team store, which had a ton of awesome Mariners and Padres spring training gear that we totally didn't want to buy because it was all stupid expensive! &nbsp;I found a cool t-shirt or two and they were all like $40. &nbsp;I mean, I have a good job now and can afford whatever, really, but I have a LOT of t-shirts and these days I try hard not to buy things that I'm not going to use or wear if at all possible.<br /><br />So, Dani and I both bought eco-friendly shopping bags, since they were both cheap and actually useful, plus they weren't branded Mariners or Padres -- just about every piece of merchandise was branded to one team or another.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NLNaRNxYaKo/Vr1Re4FXm7I/AAAAAAAHj0Y/xkLfek_eK1M/s1600/IMG_6964%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NLNaRNxYaKo/Vr1Re4FXm7I/AAAAAAAHj0Y/xkLfek_eK1M/s400/IMG_6964%2Bcopy.JPG" width="300" /></a><br /><br />I thought about maybe trying to get some of the Fighters to sign my bag, except that I think then I won't bother ever using it, so instead maybe I'll see about getting a postcard signed and I can put that on my desk at work or something and it might be nice.<br /><br />Dani went back to meet players after the game and all, but I had bought a ticket to the Warriors-Suns game, so I couldn't really stay around all that long. &nbsp;Oddly, most of the Fighters team had <a href="https://twitter.com/FightersPR/status/697672771438931973">gone to the Coyotes-Canucks hockey game</a>, which I even knew was happening, but I figured that rather than stalking the Fighters at the hockey arena, I'd be better off going to another Warriors game -- and I was able to get a lower-level seat for $70, which is pretty much impossible to do in Oakland. &nbsp;Like, when the Suns come to Oakland in a few weeks, there ARE no tickets for under $100, not even in the upper deck. &nbsp;So I thought I'd take my opportunity to see the best team in basketball a little closer up. &nbsp;(We were at the Warriors-Thunder game on Sunday, and paid like $150ish to sit in the upper deck, and were lucky.)<br /><br />I was originally going to bring a Warriors shirt with me, but my luggage space was a bit tight and I wasn't sure how well it would go over in an away city. &nbsp;Turns out that probably half the arena or more were wearing Warriors gear and carrying Warriors signs; I completely didn't feel guilty cheering any of the many many times Stephen Curry made a 3-point shot or Klay Thompson pulled points out of thin air as well. &nbsp;(They ended with 26 and 24 points each respectively.)<br /><br />So instead I went in Fighters gear:<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hNFp5FdscoE/Vr1XoLXRzwI/AAAAAAAHj0o/h0_lGLy9J_4/s1600/IMG_6969.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hNFp5FdscoE/Vr1XoLXRzwI/AAAAAAAHj0o/h0_lGLy9J_4/s400/IMG_6969.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />And then it turned out that Luis Mendoza was also at the game! &nbsp;Alas, we were on opposite sides of the court, so I didn't see him. &nbsp;Probably just as well, really.<br /><br />Anyway, if you've read this far, you deserve to see some actual real, relevant photos:<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ud0U8RYs5a0/Vr1eUK60z1I/AAAAAAAHj04/CcZeLK4Kooc/s1600/339-Haruki.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ud0U8RYs5a0/Vr1eUK60z1I/AAAAAAAHj04/CcZeLK4Kooc/s640/339-Haruki.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Haruki Nishikawa<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kMgj8a4ZMeQ/Vr1eUZGORjI/AAAAAAAHj1A/QHcFTUPDuM8/s1600/356-Huddle.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kMgj8a4ZMeQ/Vr1eUZGORjI/AAAAAAAHj1A/QHcFTUPDuM8/s640/356-Huddle.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Team huddle while Shirai talks<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h-LmRgCJeMM/Vr1eUTSqJ5I/AAAAAAAHj08/D7Jh0YK0bMk/s1600/359-Kaneko.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h-LmRgCJeMM/Vr1eUTSqJ5I/AAAAAAAHj08/D7Jh0YK0bMk/s640/359-Kaneko.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Makoto Kaneko<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MB-t4cFPWPQ/Vr1eU3tnxoI/AAAAAAAHj1E/44QJoKPQugI/s1600/360-Huddle.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MB-t4cFPWPQ/Vr1eU3tnxoI/AAAAAAAHj1E/44QJoKPQugI/s640/360-Huddle.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Bit wider shot of the huddle for irony's sake -- you can see the <a href="https://twitter.com/FightersPR/status/697571119000195072">other side of this in the Fighters PR tweet</a>. &nbsp;And Dave is at the left standing there over the dugout.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1mfbgMIaxB8/Vr1eVDylFhI/AAAAAAAHj1I/5c-9dglBHKM/s1600/363-Sho.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1mfbgMIaxB8/Vr1eVDylFhI/AAAAAAAHj1I/5c-9dglBHKM/s640/363-Sho.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Sho Nakata<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sc7-brLTa_4/Vr1eVSXQSgI/AAAAAAAHj1M/RCZyLrRPEZY/s1600/390-Scouts.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Sc7-brLTa_4/Vr1eVSXQSgI/AAAAAAAHj1M/RCZyLrRPEZY/s640/390-Scouts.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Whole pile of scouts sitting behind home plate for the first few innings.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzI5pyw_Leg/Vr1eV6OsW9I/AAAAAAAHj1Q/9DWdtYtLEew/s1600/411-Ohtani.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzI5pyw_Leg/Vr1eV6OsW9I/AAAAAAAHj1Q/9DWdtYtLEew/s640/411-Ohtani.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Some guy throwing a 98 mph fastball<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-94gfRO2UKTo/Vr1eV6-pZWI/AAAAAAAHj1U/ho5Te2WTZvs/s1600/426-View.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-94gfRO2UKTo/Vr1eV6-pZWI/AAAAAAAHj1U/ho5Te2WTZvs/s640/426-View.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Our view of the whole thing! &nbsp;(You could see the other side from that screencap earlier.)<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-23dxlSBJhII/Vr1eWHXcTyI/AAAAAAAHj1Y/_YyVyAMDaVM/s1600/514-Yoh.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-23dxlSBJhII/Vr1eWHXcTyI/AAAAAAAHj1Y/_YyVyAMDaVM/s640/514-Yoh.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Daikan Yoh<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4p58YoMfBJM/Vr1eWllG-KI/AAAAAAAHj1c/qc_QfvTR4Ts/s1600/519-Sho.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4p58YoMfBJM/Vr1eWllG-KI/AAAAAAAHj1c/qc_QfvTR4Ts/s640/519-Sho.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Sho with his "TB okay" bat donut<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-08scLoORAkA/Vr1eWzNznwI/AAAAAAAHj1g/5xcgf_01O68/s1600/543-STOh.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-08scLoORAkA/Vr1eWzNznwI/AAAAAAAHj1g/5xcgf_01O68/s640/543-STOh.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Seung-Taek Oh<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oyl_csuGGfc/Vr1eW7MfkEI/AAAAAAAHj1k/kme8FNlNW5A/s1600/565-Ishiryo.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oyl_csuGGfc/Vr1eW7MfkEI/AAAAAAAHj1k/kme8FNlNW5A/s640/565-Ishiryo.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Ryo Ishikawa's broken bat<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M-M7DR3kvaI/Vr1eXUB21yI/AAAAAAAHj1o/YmoUVOpnIr4/s1600/612-Choi.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-M-M7DR3kvaI/Vr1eXUB21yI/AAAAAAAHj1o/YmoUVOpnIr4/s640/612-Choi.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Dani's favorite player Joon-suk Choi, with Shogo Yagi pitching<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RTJuFNzbhuU/Vr1eXvCqWqI/AAAAAAAHj1s/616jPSqhqhE/s1600/616-Kim.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RTJuFNzbhuU/Vr1eXvCqWqI/AAAAAAAHj1s/616jPSqhqhE/s640/616-Kim.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Yu-yeong Kim -- not sure why but several people came over to take photos of him from our side<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wwkQleHjZpM/Vr1eXm3GTCI/AAAAAAAHj1w/tNJfotP2zos/s1600/664-Takahama.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wwkQleHjZpM/Vr1eXm3GTCI/AAAAAAAHj1w/tNJfotP2zos/s640/664-Takahama.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Yuto Takahama<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSV49svDWiU/Vr1eYPQA5RI/AAAAAAAHj10/CqpgZJOKT9c/s1600/687-Kanehira.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rSV49svDWiU/Vr1eYPQA5RI/AAAAAAAHj10/CqpgZJOKT9c/s640/687-Kanehira.JPG" width="424" /></a><br />Masashi Kanehira<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XxxIPFKYwJc/Vr1eYD9OctI/AAAAAAAHj14/dWroVM2FCv0/s1600/749-Final.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XxxIPFKYwJc/Vr1eYD9OctI/AAAAAAAHj14/dWroVM2FCv0/s640/749-Final.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />Final score<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zWz1voqUO_I/Vr1iDHDdNmI/AAAAAAAHj2E/FWywFIAZMcI/s1600/IMG_6958%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zWz1voqUO_I/Vr1iDHDdNmI/AAAAAAAHj2E/FWywFIAZMcI/s640/IMG_6958%2Bcopy.JPG" width="640" /></a><br />And here's me and Dave! &nbsp;So now if you ever hate our blogs or want to argue about baseball cards you can go hunt us down in real life, or something.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-62477710774809517572016-02-10T01:11:00.003-08:002016-02-10T01:16:06.998-08:00Fighters Spring Camp in Arizona, Day 2Today was just a practice day at the Fighters camp. &nbsp;This was the posted "menu" for the day:<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l8MOzSiUZZA/VrrZYBSD5iI/AAAAAAAHju4/FCnzx3vNdmo/s1600/IMG_6883.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l8MOzSiUZZA/VrrZYBSD5iI/AAAAAAAHju4/FCnzx3vNdmo/s640/IMG_6883.JPG" width="640" /></a><br /><br />(It's funny how many Japanese-English words I've just gotten used to; while <a href="https://twitter.com/the_hereford">Dani</a> and I were both like "Duh, it's the menu," <a href="http://japanesebaseballcards.blogspot.com/">Dave</a> was like "The WHAT? &nbsp;Can I order some Nakata or Ohtani?")<br /><br />Basically, what that paper describes, if you haven't seen something like it before, there are several different groups of players, and several different kinds of activities, and several different fields they'll be happening on. &nbsp;The left side is for position players and the right side is for pitchers. &nbsp;I didn't get there until around 11am, to be honest, so I didn't have a ton of time to decipher what was going on with pitchers exactly.<br /><br />When I showed up, I basically said good morning to a whole bunch of people on my way in, and then found Dani and Dave over by Field 5. &nbsp;I was wearing my Tokyo Big 6 t-shirt, and Dani had her Kagiya jersey on, so for a while I put my Kagiya jersey on too, but in reality it was pretty hot and having two things on made it worse. &nbsp;Though -- I ended up getting a photo with Brandon Laird, and then I saw Takayuki Katoh come out of the pitcher's practice area and I asked him if we could get a photo and then told him how I'd seen him pitch with Kazusa Magic a few years back and thought he was awesome and was so glad he'd come to the Fighters. &nbsp;He still seems like a nice guy!<br /><br />Kagiya came out of the pitcher's practice too and I was basically like "Hey, the photo we took together last night was really dark and awful, would you mind getting another photo with me?" and he was like "Sure, whatever" and we took two, because the sun was at a bad angle, and I apologized profusely for bothering him, and he was like "dude, it's okay, really!" &nbsp;He's such a nice guy and I just feel lucky that he's been so nice to me all along because I'm such a big dork about him.<br /><br />I got Dave to show his picture of Kunitomi from Keio to Hakumura, who was basically like "thanks, that's really cool to know he's doing well out here".<br /><br />I also helped Dave get cards signed from a few people, mostly by just knowing who they were and knowing which cards Dave had with him, so it was like, "Oh, Dave, that's Masui, you have one of his cards," as Masui walked by. &nbsp;Or calling over to Masato Yoshii who is like the nicest guy on the planet. &nbsp;Things like that. &nbsp;Like, it was a little weird since I wouldn't help the binders-of-cards-hey-wheres-ohtani guys waiting outside the day before, but I mean, I know Dave, he knows more about Japanese baseball than a lot of people, and he really does care about it, but since he hasn't spent a ton of time around the guys, he doesn't know most of them by sight, so having us around to point out who all the players were was helpful for him.<br /><br />And, actually, something really funny happened -- Yuki Saitoh was coming out of the bullpen session where Yoshii had been coaching him, and so a few people managed to get him to sign things, including Dave, and I was like "Saitoh-kun, can we get a photo together? &nbsp;please?" and he was kinda like "I don't really do photos..." and I'm like "BUT I BROUGHT MY TOKYO BIG SIX T-SHIRT WITH ME ALL THE WAY TO ARIZONA" and he was like "Oh wow you really do have a Tokyo Big Six shirt" and I'm like "Pleeeeeeeeeease?" and then Dave took a photo of us and it was like, dang, I just got a photo with one of the most famous and elusive Japanese baseball players ever. &nbsp;Crazy.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XDvNjGukHgE/VrrnDr1nVjI/AAAAAAAHjvI/Ci9f53AKQjs/s1600/IMG_6878.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XDvNjGukHgE/VrrnDr1nVjI/AAAAAAAHjvI/Ci9f53AKQjs/s400/IMG_6878.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />I posted that to Twitter and a friend of mine in Hokkaido wrote back: "I saw that on TV! &nbsp;He had just come out of the bullpen and you were talking to him and took a photo, it was on GAORA."<br /><br />Yeah, that's how my life goes in general. &nbsp;Oh well, at least now I'll have lots of conversation starters with my Fighters friends when I'm back in Japan, for sure.<br /><br />(Infact, right before that all, I had been chatting with a guy named Yusuke out by the bullpens, who turned out to be from Obihiro, and he was like "I've seen you on TV cheering during games a ton over the years...")<br /><br />Right around then Chris Martin and Anthony Bass also came out of the bullpen to ride the golf cart back to wherever, and a few people stopped them for autographs, so I was like "Hey you guys, I sound like the worst person ever but you are both super-tall dudes with beards and I want to be able to tell you apart -- do I have it right that you're Chris and you're Anthony?" and they were like "Yeah, you got it" and I said "Great, hope to see you do well with the team this year!" and then they drove off on their cart.<br /><br />We waited around until the end of bullpens because I wanted to talk to Masashi Kanehira. &nbsp;Well, not exactly. &nbsp;More like, my friend Yuki, up in Sapporo, is a gigantic Kanehira fan. &nbsp;Like, as in, she follows him around Japan as much as possible, sends him gifts, etc. &nbsp;I think that's fairly normal for a NPB super-fan, although MLB people might not understand. &nbsp;Anyway, she had sent me a message like "hey, if you run into him can you tell him for me that I saw him pitch at the intersquad game and he was so good and that I sent him some stuff to the team hotel?" and I was kinda like "okay that's a little weird but sure, I'll do my best" and asked her to type to me specifically what she wanted me to say, so she basically wrote a short letter to him in a message to me. &nbsp;I owe Yuki a favor or two because she gave me a ton of Kagiya stuff during his rookie year, a few posters and a towel and pinbadges and whatnot.<br /><br />So Kanehira comes out and I'm like "Hey, Kanehira-kun," and he's like "Hm?" and since I didn't obviously have anything to sign or anything like that he looked a little confused, and I was like, "This is going to sound really weird, but you know Yuki? &nbsp;In Sapporo? &nbsp;Your biggest fan?" and he's like "Yeah..." and I'm like "She wanted me to give you a message. &nbsp;Please read this!" and I handed him my phone. &nbsp;And he read it and laughed like "Ahhh, sugeeee...." which is kinda either "AWESOME!" or "CRAZY!" and honestly could go either way given the situation. &nbsp;I was like "I know that was kinda weird, but she's such a big fan and she knew I was here and...was the message okay?" and he was like "No that's cool, thanks." and I was like "Thanks for reading it, it means a lot to her."<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A-J2S3cCkUs/VrrqiUBhh3I/AAAAAAAHjvU/aX3XBA6aACk/s1600/IMG_6882.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-A-J2S3cCkUs/VrrqiUBhh3I/AAAAAAAHjvU/aX3XBA6aACk/s400/IMG_6882.JPG" width="400" /></a><br /><br />Anyway. &nbsp;At that point we decided to take off for lunch, since it was already noon. &nbsp;The players officially had a lunch break on the schedule from 11:30-12:20, though when we were walking to leave the park, we nearly got run over by a golf cart driven by Sho Nakata. &nbsp;Seriously, I forget who he had on there, it was Haruki and Shingo and a few others, and they were all holding on for dear life, and I yelled "ABUNNAI ABUNNAI ABUNNAI" at them. &nbsp;Laughing, but still. &nbsp;I hope they realize I was joking, although I hope Sho doesn't kill anyone with his driving...<br /><br />Dani and Dave and I went to say goodbye to Joe, who was catching a flight out in the afternoon, and then we got lunch at Red Robin, which was also funny since I kept apologizing to Dave like "We must sound like complete crazy people to you," and he was like "It's actually really cool to be around people talking about Japanese baseball."<br /><br />We headed back to camp around 2pm, by which point they were doing the fielding/catching stuff listed on the schedule. &nbsp;Honestly, while we knew the schedule, we mostly just hung out looking for interestingness, so to speak. &nbsp;Like, for example, Ohtani was getting ready to take batting practice at Field 5, so... lots of people were there, of course, so we were too.<br /><br />I sat down with Barden for a bit (he's a "friend of the Fighters" that I first met years and years ago on the field at Chiba when I used to get field passes from Bobby) and watched Kaneko throw batting practice to Taniguchi for a while, which was really cool in its own way, and then Kaneko switched out to watch Ohtani take batting practice, and of course all of the media also geared up to watch. &nbsp;Yoshinori Tateyama came and stood right in front of us inside the fence, and Dani was like "OMG he's right in the way" and he turned around and said in English, "Oh, sorry. &nbsp;Can you see?" and we were like "Yeah it's fine, thanks". &nbsp;Tateyama is so funny, at some point he got a ball during the BP, and he threw it into the fence, then was like "OW!" and we cracked up and he said in English, "I can't throw!"<br /><br />After Ohtani's BP was over, Shirai-coach yelled at the media something to the effect of, "OKAY HE'S DONE! &nbsp;ALL YOU CAMERA GUYS CAN GO TO SOME OTHER FIELD NOW!" &nbsp;So when he walked by us I was like "Shirai-san, omoshiroi!!" and he's like "Not omoshiroi. &nbsp;I'm always serious. &nbsp;Very serious."<br /><br />Only a few minutes later Dave went to get his signature... and Shirai at the time had just dove headfirst into a golf cart, so his butt was sticking up in the air and I was laughing like "Shirai-san, Shirai-san, mite mite, you have got to see this, he has your card from a long time ago!" and so he signed the card for Dave.<br /><br />I also called out to a few other people for Dave, like Nakajima, and Yoh, and whoever else, I forget. &nbsp;We also lined up to try to catch Ohtani when he was coming out, but like, he obviously wasn't going to stop for anyone, and I don't really blame him. &nbsp;Later I found out that apparently the team told him to "watch out for people just getting your autograph to sign on Ebay", so that probably makes him even more wary, which sucks for all the real fans.<br /><br />The catchers came by with Shinji Takahashi and I asked him if I could get a photo with him and he was kinda like "...with me? &nbsp;Why me? &nbsp;Don't you want one of the players?" and I was like "Dude you were like my first favorite catcher with the Fighters ten years ago, come on" and he was like "Really?" and so we took some photos because the sun was bright and all but it worked out okay. &nbsp;I swear that Shinji would have never posed and smiled and been so nice in photos when he was still a player -- so I guess that is one nice thing about all of my old favorite players being retired now... but still. &nbsp;I asked him how things were in Shinano and he said they were good.<br /><br />We watched the catchers do their stuff for a bit and eventually it was like... wow, there aren't really any other people hanging out here anymore and you can't even really see what's going on, so we decided to wander out. &nbsp;I thought I had a meeting for work to call into at 4pm anyway, so I came back to my hotel, and while the meeting had been cancelled, I spent an hour or two answering work emails and doing some work stuff, and basking in the glorious airconditioning in my hotel room.<br /><br />I came back to the field around 5-5:30 and hung out for a bit more with people there. &nbsp;I was honestly mostly just there to help out Dave get a few more autographs. &nbsp;Somehow it's easier for me to yell out to people for someone else than it is for myself, isn't that weird?<br /><br />I got a photo with Takumi Ohshima because I'm wearing my Big 6 shirt, and I was like "I know it's not quite the same but you were from Waseda so... please?" and I also got a photo with Hiromi Oka (which is weird since he hates everyone but he even signed Dani's Meiji shirt for her), and I also got a photo with Kishisato and Naberyo, well, Dani took a picture of them and I was like "Can I do a... three-shot with you guys?" and they were like, okay, sure. &nbsp;Ryo Ishikawa came out eventually and a bunch of girls swarmed him, and I was just like "hey -- hit another home run tomorrow, please?" and he laughed like "uh, okay". &nbsp;Kagiya also came by and I called out otsukaresama but I wasn't going to bother him yet again after everything else.<br /><br />A gaggle of coaches came out including Shirai and Kawana, and I knew Dave had a Kawana card from 1991 as well, like he did for Shirai, so I was like "wait! &nbsp;Kawana-san! &nbsp;this guy has one of your old cards, would you sign?" and he waited for us to find it and signed it, and I told him how I'd never seen him as a player since for the whole 14 years I've been a Fighters fan, he's basically always been a coach. &nbsp;Weird, right?<br /><br />Anyway, it got super-dark around 6:30, and of course that's when most of the players came out, and I wasn't about to bother people I couldn't even really see. &nbsp;So I went back to my hotel at that point.<br /><br />Although, I walked over to the nearby mall to get dinner around 8, and of course I saw two of the Fighters ANA bicycles parked outside when I was leaving. &nbsp;It would have been incredibly stalkerish and weird to go back in and look for them, so I didn't.<br /><br />Wow, this did end up being a longer entry than I thought. &nbsp;It's not like there was much action today -- just a lot of hanging around camp watching guys practice and occasionally talking to them -- but it was still memorable and there were a lot of funny interactions.<br /><br />Some (more) photos:<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5HuR4Ik4-mU/Vrr3u45-CcI/AAAAAAAHjwE/dEjlkbQhxts/s1600/IMG_6900.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5HuR4Ik4-mU/Vrr3u45-CcI/AAAAAAAHjwE/dEjlkbQhxts/s400/IMG_6900.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />The media tower where the GAORA folks have been broadcasting from. &nbsp;I think during normal spring training, the Padres front office guys can sit up there and watch all the practice fields.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aMuhwWJbFsU/Vrr30DvDMjI/AAAAAAAHjwI/YI_MrCiW1Pg/s1600/IMG_6874.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aMuhwWJbFsU/Vrr30DvDMjI/AAAAAAAHjwI/YI_MrCiW1Pg/s400/IMG_6874.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Practice field 3, I think.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3FjY-3h3Prg/Vrr7MarkO5I/AAAAAAAHjwY/FfZnvysiZuE/s1600/IMG_6869%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3FjY-3h3Prg/Vrr7MarkO5I/AAAAAAAHjwY/FfZnvysiZuE/s400/IMG_6869%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Takayuki Katoh! &nbsp;When last we met him he looked like <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/657125147065782272">this</a>.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GdEybIq0N9U/Vrr3T_0gnNI/AAAAAAAHjv4/kurDXbUf0b8/s1600/IMG_6877.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GdEybIq0N9U/Vrr3T_0gnNI/AAAAAAAHjv4/kurDXbUf0b8/s400/IMG_6877.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Chris Martin and Anthony Bass about to get driven off on a golf cart. &nbsp;Sho Nakata wasn't driving, so I assume they survived.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e-n9jGtNhPc/Vrr23_7Z4PI/AAAAAAAHjvw/EimwrhwchH8/s1600/IMG_6903.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e-n9jGtNhPc/Vrr23_7Z4PI/AAAAAAAHjvw/EimwrhwchH8/s400/IMG_6903.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />I wanted to take a photo of the big baseballs all over the place, but without a human being for scale, it wouldn't really look as impressive.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YI-wJgy0lSY/Vrr2_wuFt6I/AAAAAAAHjv0/ggz36Nip0Og/s1600/IMG_6893%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YI-wJgy0lSY/Vrr2_wuFt6I/AAAAAAAHjv0/ggz36Nip0Og/s400/IMG_6893%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Who's got two thumbs and is having a blast in Arizona? &nbsp;Me and Shinji Takahashi, that's who.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PxjX1x83pcg/Vrr3WTKAl8I/AAAAAAAHjv8/C934y4cnyFs/s1600/IMG_6889.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PxjX1x83pcg/Vrr3WTKAl8I/AAAAAAAHjv8/C934y4cnyFs/s400/IMG_6889.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Satoh and Shiroishi failing to drive a golf cart through the opening in the fence.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PWjaKYPV7KY/Vrr7OHFaqhI/AAAAAAAHjwc/ZEUW8CA_5A0/s1600/DSC_0229%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PWjaKYPV7KY/Vrr7OHFaqhI/AAAAAAAHjwc/ZEUW8CA_5A0/s400/DSC_0229%2Bcopy.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Kaneko throwing batting practice!<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T1Vs3mcJj-o/Vrr7TopCPxI/AAAAAAAHjwg/Ikp5irvqM8k/s1600/DSC_0256%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-T1Vs3mcJj-o/Vrr7TopCPxI/AAAAAAAHjwg/Ikp5irvqM8k/s400/DSC_0256%2Bcopy.JPG" width="300" /></a><br />Ohtani getting instruction from Kaneko, or something<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_W0AyfRMoEc/Vrr7nLf5b8I/AAAAAAAHjws/grCba3vVeic/s1600/DSC_0265%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_W0AyfRMoEc/Vrr7nLf5b8I/AAAAAAAHjws/grCba3vVeic/s400/DSC_0265%2Bcopy.JPG" width="298" /></a><br />Kazunori Yamamoto -- former pitcher with the team, now BP, it was nice to see him pitching again.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sgWk6XyTVIo/Vrr2rAgpR5I/AAAAAAAHjvk/crV3K5xxvRg/s1600/IMG_6906%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sgWk6XyTVIo/Vrr2rAgpR5I/AAAAAAAHjvk/crV3K5xxvRg/s400/IMG_6906%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />My "three-shot" with Ryo Watanabe and Ryosuke Kishisato<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mnhfCiZfAEU/Vrr2u9WOmVI/AAAAAAAHjvs/3_Rzd7Q76AQ/s1600/IMG_6908%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mnhfCiZfAEU/Vrr2u9WOmVI/AAAAAAAHjvs/3_Rzd7Q76AQ/s400/IMG_6908%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Takumi Ohshima was all smiles!<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ASdlSgodjFM/Vrr2tCY4UbI/AAAAAAAHjvo/eMLwkfMj_EU/s1600/IMG_6909%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ASdlSgodjFM/Vrr2tCY4UbI/AAAAAAAHjvo/eMLwkfMj_EU/s400/IMG_6909%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Hiromi Oka is never all smiles!Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-37776460540903347312016-02-09T00:19:00.000-08:002016-02-09T00:20:06.138-08:00Fighters Spring Camp in Arizona!Dunno how coherent this entry will be, but -- I'm in Peoria and just went through my first day of Fighters spring training ever. (I mean, unless you count open-sen, which most people don't, I've never been to spring training for any team.) &nbsp;Some photos at the bottom of the post.<br /><br />Work has been crazy busy for me so I knew that it would be hard to get a lot of time to come to Peoria at all; I'm managing this one week, and I'm going to have to do some work remotely while I'm here, honestly. I didn't know what the Fighters schedule would be like for such a long time, but around mid-November I called the Peoria Sports Complex like "Hey, I'm a huge Fighters fan and I want to come to spring training, but they haven't released ANY info, what can you tell me?" and they were like "we know nothing except that they've booked the big field on February 8th, 10th, and 13th." Not even like, what their opponents would be, or anything else, just those three days. Sometime early December I found out from Dani on Twitter that the Korean NC Dinos team would be playing the Fighters on the 13th. So I booked a trip here to arrive on Feb 7th and leave on Feb 13th. <br /><br />Flying *out* of SFO on the morning of the Super Bowl was pretty awesome, actually. We saw a ton of buses heading southward from the city when driving up to the airport, so trying to figure out how important their passengers were based on how much of a police guard they had was pretty amusing. (We went to the Warriors game on Saturday night and it was just chock-full of celebrities; Jay-Z and Beyonce were even there sitting courtside.) My flight had a bunch of empty seats, even. I got to Phoenix airport around 3pm, and then had to go get my rental car, and drive to Peoria. I figured that Dani and Joe had said that practice went until 4pm each day and the players were still around until 6-7pm, so after I checked into my hotel I went over to the Peoria Sports Complex... <br /><br />...and absolutely nobody was there. I found out later that they ended practice early because of the Super Bowl. Oops. But, I took the opportunity to drive around the grounds a little and figure out where things were, at least. <br /><br />I must say, btw, that I'm really happy I rented a car. My hotel isn't THAT far -- about a mile walking -- but dang, it is really hot here, and carrying a ton of baseball stuff is not fun already, let alone with the crazy heat. This area has a ton of stuff in it but it's really not walking-friendly. <br /><br />Case in point: I decided to go to the Target across the street from my hotel and get a few things I'd forgotten to bring. The street is so wide that you can't actually cross it in one walk signal unless you RUN. Which I did. But still. Also amusingly, when I went to pay for my stuff in line at the Target, the people ahead of me were Yoshihiro Satoh and one other guy I still haven't figured out who. They were wearing Fighters camp gear; I was wearing my 野球道 shirt so they were like "...do you like baseball?" and I was like (in Japanese) "I came here to see you guys -- I'm a huge Fighters fan! Game tomorrow, right?" and it was really weird. (I didn't actually realize it was Satoh, just that it was someone I recognized from the team who wasn't a current player, he's team staff. The next day at the field he was like "Hey, you're the girl from Target last night" and I was like "OMG Satoh-kun, right??") <br /><br />And yeah, that was WEIRD. But cool. <br /><br />So this morning I showed up at the Padres training fields at the PSC at around 9:30am; basically they had a game at noon and therefore practice from 9-11. Kazunori Yamamoto (former pitcher, also now staff) was playing catch with some people in the outfield but he was standing on the path so I walked past him like (in Japanese) "good morning! oh! yamamoto-kun!" and he was like "oh! hi! good morning! be careful for the balls leaving the field!" And then I came up to the actual field and wasn't sure what to do. People were taking batting practice. Others were throwing in the bullpen. I walked over there, I took a few photos, I got stopped by a security guard who was just like "You can stand here but you can't block anyone going in unless you have a media pass," and I was like "Well, I don't really write about the Fighters anymore so I doubt I can get a pass." I ran into my friend Yohei who works for the team as a translator and chatted with him for a bit, and I also saw Fernando Seguignol and waved hi and he gave me a big hug! But he was also being interviewed at the time so I said we'd catch up later. Various other Fighters celebrities like Yukihiro Nishizaki were wandering around... and eventually I found Dani and Joe over by the third-base side and so I ended up hanging out with them for a while watching batting practice. So crazy! Funny thing: when Shohei Ohtani came in, people were all like "holy shit it's Ohtani" and so I just said in Japanese to him, "good morning!" and he replied to me, "good morning!" and then went into the field. I guess it's all of my years of teaching Japanese junior high school, but I know that greeting people is always a good thing to do and that they'll always reply to you. <br /><br />(When I greeted Ryo Ishikawa he was all like "ohayou! good morning!!") <br /><br />Also for some reason Mark Prior was there in the bullpen coaching! How neat is that? <br /><br />Anyway, after a little while of hanging around with Dani and Joe the team started getting ready to go over to the main field for the game. I did manage to stop Masao Kida and Yoshinori Tateyama and ask them for a photo, which was awesome cool. The players were mostly taking off on golf carts. I offered Dani and Joe a ride and so we got lunch at Subway and then stopped back at their hotel to grab some stuff for the game, and then we came back to the field! <br /><br />As Dani pointed out, most of the people who were there on the official Fighters tours were already gone by today (oddly, they had scheduled tours like <a href="http://fighters.co.jp/news/detail/5821.html">this one</a> for Jan 31 to Feb 5, for example, and I think there was another one until the 6th). I thought that it was odd that the official tours were before the games they were playing, but shrug. Anyway, as a result there really weren't that many people at the game today, and probably half of them were scouts! We sat right behind the Fighters dugout, which was great for photos and terrible for HOLY CRAP IT IS REALLY HOT. <br /><br />Also a little bit before the game started I saw Atsunori Inaba standing there talking to Nishizaki and I was like "OMG I MUST GO TALK TO HIM OR I WILL FOREVER REGRET IT" and so I went up and waited for their conversation to finish and asked Inaba politely if I could get a photo with him and he surprisingly said sure and Joe took it and I swear that at that point I could probably have gone home from this entire week pretty happy to have accomplished something nigh impossible. (I should have aimed for Takashi Saitoh who was also wandering around, but Dani said he only does fan service for kids, so I dunno.) <br /><br />There weren't a ton of people in the stands around us; the other people behind the dugout were Japanese; there were a few guys who've been on the Japanball tour a few times sitting a few rows behind us; there was a white guy who spent most of the game hitting on Japanese women in the front row (he was super-annoying; I don't really want to go into details but he creeped me out the whole game). <br /><br />We ended up getting interviewed by a journalist from the local NPR affiliate, who was basically like "Hi, you guys are all decked out in Fighters gear, what's your story?" and so Joe and I spent an inning or two telling her all about Japanese baseball. That was fun. I wonder whether anything I said will be useful. <br /><br />Oh yeah, and of course I got an email in Japanese from a friend in Sapporo saying something like "HEY I JUST SAW YOU ON TV! IT'S REALLY EARLY IN THE MORNING HERE BUT WE GOT UP TO WATCH THE GAME! I WONDERED WHEN YOU'D SHOW UP IN PEORIA! HOW'S IT GOING?" which was, as always, surreal, but kind of funny, since this guy also tends to send me email when I'm in Japan like "I saw you on TV at the Tokyo Dome, are you coming to visit us in Sapporo this trip?". For lack of a better reply I sent him my photo with Inaba. <br /><br />So yeah, there was a game. I did keep score, but it was REALLY hard, due to a combination of being distracted by the interview for a few innings, and them not actually having the lineup or players' names on the scoreboards. They actually did all of the announcements in Japanese and English -- and as usual the English pronunciations were TERRIBLE (like, "who the hell is Day-kee Asooma?") -- but so it means I could follow the Fighters changes fairly easily and utterly could not follow the Lotte Giants changes much at all. Lotte changed pitchers pretty much every inning from the 4th on, and half of their pitchers were submariners or sidearmers, which was interesting on its own, but uninteresting in that I don't remember who half of them were. I mean, I wrote down names, but now they're all kind of fuzzy in my head. I do feel kind of bad about that, but it was just super-hard to follow. I have the account of what happened, but when it comes to the Korean team I'm not actually sure WHO did what, is all. <br /><br />Yuki Saitoh started for the Fighters, which of course went poorly when in the third inning he gave up like 4 straight hits to account for 3 runs. The Fighters evened it up in the bottom of the 4th, after Giants starter Se Woong Park came out and was replaced by sidearmer Jae Gon Lee, who gave up a double to Brandon Laird, followed by walking Asama and Sugiya, so when Ryo Ishikawa pinch-hit for Shota Ohno and came up to bat, it was the perfect bases-loaded opportunity for him to blast a grand slam to left field! (Due to the way the left field bullpen is, I actually didn't realize it was a home run at first until it became clear it had landed in the bullpen.) So that made it 4-3. <br /><br />It stayed 4-3 for most of the rest of the game through a series of one-inning Giants pitchers and for the Fighters, Yodai Enoshita pitched the 4th and 5th, Masahiro Inui pitched the 6th, Yohei Kagiya (!!!) pitched the 7th, and Akihiro Hakumura pitched the 8th and 9th. <br /><br />Unfortunately in the top of the 9th, Hakumura gave up a bloop single to Hun Do Park (I think; honestly not sure), who stole second, and then two batters later Min Ho Kang hit a monster double to left, scoring Park, and he stole third, and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 5-4, which was the final score. <br /><br />I was so excited when Kagiya came out! Especially since the NPR interviewer, she had asked us our favorite players on the team, and I'm like "Yohei Kagiya" and she's like "Oh, what position is he?" and I said "Middle relief pitcher" and she's like "...I see. Do you think he'll pitch today?" "No, but that's ok." But then he did! I put my Kagiya towel over the dugout fence thingy, and Masato Yoshii even pointed and smiled at it like "Nice sign!" But I wasn't actually sure Kagiya himself saw it, which was odd. <br /><br />(It's really a shame Kisanuki isn't around anymore because I would have so so so so so much loved to meet him here. Just saying.) <br /><br />Around the 8th or 9th inning we also had a lady come up and start talking to us who was like, Uwasawa's great-aunt or something -- and then it turned out she works on Portland Sister City stuff with my JET friend that I used to always stay with in Sapporo back in the day. That was pretty random. <br /><br />Anyway, we got kicked out of the stadium pretty quickly after the game, which was okay, because it was SO HOT OUT. We decided to go line up for autographs/etc, but since I wasn't sure how long it'd take I went back to my hotel to get my laptop and stuff, and dropped Dani and Joe off at their hotel. But then it turned out I didn't get a damn bit of work done, because between 4:30-6:30pm or so there was a fairly steady stream of players coming out of the building. I thought it was kind of odd, but people were just lined up by the building, and basically, players would either come out and stop for fans, or they'd come out elsewhere and avoid the line, and for the most part people abided by "if he's not coming to the line, he doesn't want to talk to us", although for example, we went and chased down Kenta Uehara by his car a bit further off. <br /><br />I got photos with Takanashi, Uehara, Oshimoto (!!), Sho Nakata, and Masui, and I also got some of them to sign my new uniform (Uwasawa, Hakumura, Nakata, Masui). I also got Inaba to sign my uniform!! I wasn't planning on it but basically he came out to the media van and a few people were kinda like "...should we?" and ran over, and then he was surprisingly nice and accomodating for everyone, so I got him to sign my uniform, like "I've been such a big fan of yours forever", and he's like "Your Japanese is great," (that's always what people say and usually it annoys me but when someone like Inaba says it my reply is "oh thank you so much but") and I asked when he got to town, and he said "Oh, I arrived yesterday," and I was like "Me too!" and then I felt like the biggest idiot ever, and I thanked him and ran off before I could sound even dumber. <br /><br />I also chatted with Hakumura for a while because thanks to <a href="http://japanesebaseballcards.blogspot.com/">Dave</a>, I knew that Kunitomi from Keio is playing in the <a href="http://awl-stats.bbstats.pointstreak.com/player.html?playerid=933328&amp;seasonid=30077">Arizona Winter League</a> somewhat nearby so that was kind of cool to have something interesting to tell him. <br /><br />And of course Kagiya came out eventually and I got him to sign my new uniform AND sign my towel ("I put this out when you were pitching but I don't think you saw it!") and we took a photo together but it was so dark out by then that yet again I have a photo with Kagiya and I'm not happy with it, which makes me feel sort of bad. But, I guess I have all week to bug him again, hopefully he won't kill me! I was definitely super excited to see him. <br /><br />Oh, a funny thing happened also where Tateyama had come out, and Dani had brought her Rangers Tateyama shirt, but she couldn't find her marker, and I was like "DANI TAKE MY PEN AND GO GET TATEYAMA" and so she took my pen and ran off like "Tateyama-saaaaaaan!" <br /><br />Anyway, like I said, it got dark, so dark we couldn't tell who was coming out anymore by 6:30pm, so I decided to leave. Joe is heading back to Boston but I guess I'll see Dani again whenever I get to the park tomorrow, and Dave is also supposed to show up, so it's nice to get to meet up with all of my online NPB friends. <br /><br />This wouldn't be a Marinerds post if I didn't end with some photos, so even though I'm already super-tired, here you go:<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CayFxi2SP80/Vrma9ipk3eI/AAAAAAAHjsc/ZXd4VzFOHWA/s1600/IMG_6830%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CayFxi2SP80/Vrma9ipk3eI/AAAAAAAHjsc/ZXd4VzFOHWA/s400/IMG_6830%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />With Tateyama and Kida<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SRyBMSmVPHY/Vrma98KXl8I/AAAAAAAHjsg/x6rZ4GJW5CQ/s1600/IMG_6833%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SRyBMSmVPHY/Vrma98KXl8I/AAAAAAAHjsg/x6rZ4GJW5CQ/s400/IMG_6833%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />With Inaba. &nbsp;I was so surprised and happy to see him!<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J1VFPhzaZwQ/Vrmbwl6NzvI/AAAAAAAHjsw/T137j8tZFc8/s1600/IMG_6835.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J1VFPhzaZwQ/Vrmbwl6NzvI/AAAAAAAHjsw/T137j8tZFc8/s400/IMG_6835.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Team pre-game meeting<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zue9o03nbZE/Vrmbv_fsydI/AAAAAAAHjso/fqyv44EhUjM/s1600/IMG_6837%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zue9o03nbZE/Vrmbv_fsydI/AAAAAAAHjso/fqyv44EhUjM/s400/IMG_6837%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Me and Joe and Dani (Dani did not want her face showing up in my blog but you have to give her mad Sanko props for the jersey)<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s8aDJ1V6jx8/VrmcDoUtN6I/AAAAAAAHjs0/mEEEVsSyppM/s1600/IMG_6841.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-s8aDJ1V6jx8/VrmcDoUtN6I/AAAAAAAHjs0/mEEEVsSyppM/s400/IMG_6841.JPG" width="400" /></a> <br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CPY31LM1EvA/VrmcDkRtOvI/AAAAAAAHjs4/BZM4kX6N8V0/s1600/IMG_6843.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CPY31LM1EvA/VrmcDkRtOvI/AAAAAAAHjs4/BZM4kX6N8V0/s400/IMG_6843.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Casey Kuhn was the reporter from NPR who interviewed us. &nbsp;She wanted a photo of us, so I thought it was fair to get a photo with her.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uM8v37VF_k0/VrmcPeffWJI/AAAAAAAHjtA/p0nw80iGRHs/s1600/IMG_6849.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uM8v37VF_k0/VrmcPeffWJI/AAAAAAAHjtA/p0nw80iGRHs/s400/IMG_6849.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Final score of the game<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OXvxZyQB8Jw/VrmcQfU5DKI/AAAAAAAHjtI/DQTWaRrSLuM/s1600/IMG_6854%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OXvxZyQB8Jw/VrmcQfU5DKI/AAAAAAAHjtI/DQTWaRrSLuM/s400/IMG_6854%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Oshimoto, who seemed surprised (but pleased) that I was like "OMG IT'S OSHIMOTO CAN I GET A PHOTO WITH YOU?" &nbsp;Another woman tried to get him to sign something and he was like "...I'm not a player anymore, I don't really sign"<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KWLJQx394fE/VrmclkvryHI/AAAAAAAHjtQ/0E91W3tyUNw/s1600/IMG_6855.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KWLJQx394fE/VrmclkvryHI/AAAAAAAHjtQ/0E91W3tyUNw/s400/IMG_6855.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Same kinda story with Sho -- surprised he was patient enough to get me get a photo, now it's just a shame about the shadow. &nbsp;Ah well, it was still nice of him :)<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9RWWUcsLMmI/VrmcPcI1ohI/AAAAAAAHjtE/rBU1W66sghk/s1600/IMG_6851%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9RWWUcsLMmI/VrmcPcI1ohI/AAAAAAAHjtE/rBU1W66sghk/s400/IMG_6851%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Hirotoshi Takanashi... I've just never met him before, oddly.<br /><br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G8MWzAkx4nQ/VrmcOL4kY7I/AAAAAAAHjs8/a8QQKBKZ4jY/s1600/IMG_6852%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-G8MWzAkx4nQ/VrmcOL4kY7I/AAAAAAAHjs8/a8QQKBKZ4jY/s400/IMG_6852%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Kenta Uehara. &nbsp;Funny thing here was that the two girls who got photos with him before I did, they both posed by saying "KENSHI NO SEBANGO WA NIIIIIIII" which I guess is like a "say cheese" sort of equivalent, only it's "Kenshi's uniform number is 2", about Sugiya's uniform number change. &nbsp;So, as a joke when I went up to pose, I said "KENTA NO SEBANGO WA NIIIIIIIIIII JU!" meaning "Kenta's uniform number is 20!" &nbsp;He cracked up and so did I.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MHqMILLXGA4/Vrmcl6b6QQI/AAAAAAAHjtY/bu0RdwyWlkA/s1600/IMG_6862%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MHqMILLXGA4/Vrmcl6b6QQI/AAAAAAAHjtY/bu0RdwyWlkA/s400/IMG_6862%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Fighters closer Hirotoshi Masui<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_xJFIKGdZ0k/Vrmcl0iVlLI/AAAAAAAHjtU/1XhmaYKL-eg/s1600/IMG_6863%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_xJFIKGdZ0k/Vrmcl0iVlLI/AAAAAAAHjtU/1XhmaYKL-eg/s400/IMG_6863%2Bcopy.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />Kagiya! &nbsp;I was so happy to see him and all but dang, it was dark. &nbsp;Alas.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-75437360528740919712015-10-21T11:36:00.000-07:002015-10-22T18:03:46.292-07:00Draft 2015 Liveblogging!<b>EDIT:</b> Liveblogging part has been moved to below the draft result table; pre-draft comments still at top. &nbsp;As of <b>5:50pm Oct 23 PST</b>, the entire draft result table is finished, including ikusei!<br /><br />I was in Japan 2 weeks ago, so I did manage to buy a few of the draft magazines, so that should help with player backgrounds, although since they publish them before the deadline for guys submitting their draft-hopeful 志望届 intent letters, about half of the guys in the magazines aren't actually going into the draft. &nbsp;Shrug. &nbsp;I'll hopefully catch a stream online of the TV part, but otherwise I'll just be watching the picks come in on various news sources such as <a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/professional/draft/2015/">Nikkan Sports</a>, <a href="http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/npb/2015/draft/">Sponichi</a>, <a href="http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/draft/15/top.html">Sanspo</a>, etc as usual.<br /><br />Not sure who I'm really emotionally invested in this year aside from the Sanko boys (please for the love of god do not let Takayama go to the Giants), maybe Ohshiro-kun (Koji that is, I've given up on Motoshi ever getting drafted now, sadly), and a bunch of the industrial league guys. &nbsp;Well, and like everyone I wonder what'll happen to Rui Okoe, and another lesser-known half kid in the list named Julius Higuma. &nbsp;(BTW, for the three of you who might wonder what ever happened to Teikyo's Naville Ariga, he apparently works at a <a href="http://mblog.maruhans.net/0798/archive/5158977">Maruhan store in Sendai</a>...)<br /><br /><b>Predraft update 8pm:</b> Shun Takayama <a href="http://www.hochi.co.jp/baseball/ama/20151021-OHT1T50143.html">broke his wrist</a> on Sunday, apparently, though it was only discovered and in the news today. &nbsp;Specifically, he broke the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamate_bone">hamate bone</a> in his wrist; after reading about it on Wikipedia it doesn't sound that bad, apparently this just happens to golfers/baseball players and is often a hairline fracture that doesn't show up (infact they say he had an X-Ray after the game and it showed up normal but then an MRI later in the week showed the fracture). &nbsp;However, Yakult at least has said they <a href="http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2015/10/22/kiji/K20151022011365470.html">will still choose him in the first round</a>. &nbsp;That suits me just fine :)<br /><br />Takayama is easily one of the best college batter/fielders in the draft this year, he broke the career hits record in Tokyo Big 6 by accumulating 131 hits over 4 years -- this is no small feat, the record was set at 127 hits by Shigeru Takada back in 1967 and stood for 48 years until now. &nbsp;He was a member of the Nichidai Sanko team that won Koshien in 2011 and that I was a crazy enough fan of to <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/search/label/Sanko%20%E7%95%94%E4%B8%8A%E7%B5%84">dedicate an entire tag on here just to their team</a>. &nbsp;Even after his freshman year at Meiji I was already predicting him as the most likely guy from their team to go pro, so go figure. &nbsp;I don't think this wrist injury will affect his career much.<br /><br /><br /><pre>Name Pos HS/Univ/Company T/B DOB Ht/Wt <br />-------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- -------<br /><a href="http://www.rakuteneagles.jp/team/contents/draft/2015.php"><u>Eagles</u></a><br /><strike>x Taiga Hirasawa</strike><br />1 Rui Okoe OF Kanto Daiichi HS R/R 07/21/1997 183/85<br />2 Ryota Yoshimochi IF Osaka Shogyo Univ R/R 11/04/1993 174/64<br />3 Eigoro Mogi IF Waseda Univ R/L 02/14/1994 171/75<br />4 Kengo Horiuchi C Shizuoka HS R/L 04/15/1997 176/80<br />5 Ryota Ishibashi P Honda R/L 06/06/1991 175/77<br />6 Yuichi Adachi C Panasonic R/R 09/22/1989 178/83<br />7 Itsuki Murabayashi P Otsuka HS R/R 10/06/1997 180/70<br /><br />i1 Takumi Deguchi IF Tsuda Gakuen HS R/R 03/03/1998 175/91<br />i2 Hiroki Yamada IF Komono HS R/L 10/04/1997 176/81<br /><br /><a href="http://www.buffaloes.co.jp/news/detail/4953.html"><u>Buffaloes</u></a><br />1 Masataka Yoshida OF Aoyama Gakuin Univ R/L 07/15/1993 172/80<br />2 Taisuke Kondoh P Panasonic R/R 05/29/1991 178/74<br />3 Koji Ohshiro IF Rikkio Univ R/R 06/14/1993 175/71<br />4 Daiki Aoyama P Toyota R/L 11/28/1994 183/84<br />5 Ryo Yoshida P Tokaidai Sagami HS R/R 06/20/1997 181/72<br />6 Sena Satoh P Sendai Ikuei HS R/R 06/02/1997 180/84<br />7 Kohei Suzuki IF Mitsubishi Juko Nagoya R/R 06/20/1991 175/78<br />8 Ryuta Kadoya P J-Project R/R 10/18/1990 175/71<br />9 Ken Akama P Saginomiya Seisakusho R/R 11/14/1990 180/80<br />10 Yutaro Sugimoto OF JR Nishinihon R/R 04/05/1991 190/92<br /><br />i1 Takayuki Tsukada P Hakuoh Univ L/L 09/26/1993 184/82<br />i2 Kosuke Akamatsu C Kagawa Olive Guyners R/R 06/05/1992 188/113<br /><br /><a href="http://www.seibulions.jp/news/detail/10749.html"><u>Lions</u></a><br />1 Shinsaburo Tawata P Fuji Univ R/R 04/13/1993 181/74<br />2 Seiji Kawagoe P Hokkai Gakuen Univ L/L 06/30/1993 176/77<br />3 Shogo Noda P Seino Unyu L/L 06/27/1993 167/70<br />4 Aito Ohtaki OF Hanasaki Tokuharu HS R/R 04/06/1997 178/82<br />5 Tadasuke Minamikawa P JR Shikoku R/R 01/13/1992 180/66<br />6 Keisuke Honda P Tohoku Gakuin Univ R/R 04/24/1993 179/76<br />7 Wu Nienting IF Daichi Kogyo Univ R/L 06/07/1993 178/75<br />8 Tsubasa Kokuba P Daichi Kogyo Univ R/R 12/05/1993 181/81<br />9 Koki Fujita P Hirosaki Kogyo HS L/L 12/11/1997 175/66<br />10 Naoaki Matsumoto P Kagawa Olive Guyners R/R 11/14/1990 178/78<br /><br /><a href="http://marines.co.jp/expansion/2015draft/"><u>Marines</u></a><br />1 Taiga Hirasawa IF Sendai Ikuei HS R/L 12/24/1997 176/76<br />2 Ryota Sekiya P JR Higashinihon R/R 05/10/1991 180/82<br />3 Kakeru Narita P Akita Shogyo HS L/L 02/03/1998 169/68<br />4 Taiki Tohjoh P JR Higashinihon R/R 08/15/1991 176/80<br />5 Shu Hara P Senshudai Matsudo HS R/R 12/06/1997 185/84<br />6 Akifumi Shigaraki P Miyazaki Umeda Gakuen R/R 12/26/1991 180/83<br />7 Keisuke Takano P JR Nishinihon R/R 12/28/1991 178/78<br /><br />i1 Takamasa Ohki IF Kagawa Olive Guyners R/L 11/22/1991 174/73<br />i2 Tomoya Kakinuma C Nihon Kokusai Univ R/R 05/12/1993 180/82<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fighters.co.jp/news/detail/5776.html"><u>Fighters</u></a><br /><strike>x Junpei Takahashi<br />x Shinnosuke Ogasawara</strike><br />1 Kenta Uehara P Meiji Univ L/L 03/29/1994 190/85<br />2 Takayuki Katoh P Kazusa Magic L/L 06/03/1992 182/82<br />3 Kazutomo Iguchi P Nodai Okhotsk Univ R/R 01/07/1994 177/80<br />4 Shota Hiranuma P Tsuruga Kehi HS R/L 08/16/1997 178/75<br />5 Toyoki Tanaka P Nihon Bunri Univ R/R 12/01/1993 180/88<br />6 Toshitake Yokoo IF Keio Univ R/R 05/27/1993 175/86<br />7 Yuki Yoshida P Tokai Univ R/R 02/16/1994 187/79<br />8 Yuya Himeno P Osaka Kaisei HS R/R 04/02/1997 184/79<br /><br /><a href="http://www.softbankhawks.co.jp/team/draft/2015/"><u>Hawks</u></a><br />1 Junpei Takahashi P Ken Gifu Shogyo HS R/R 05/08/1997 183/76<br />2 Reiji Kozawa P Nichidai Mishima HS R/L 03/09/1998 180/74<br />3 Kenta Tanigawara C Toyohashi Chuo HS R/L 04/16/1997 173/79<br />4 Kenta Chatani P Teikyo #3 HS R/R 01/16/1998 185/85<br />5 Kenta Kurose C Hatsushiba Hashimoto HS R/R 08/12/1997 180/94<br />6 Hikaru Kawase OF Oita Shogyo HS R/L 09/15/1997 175/63<br /><br />i1 Yuuto Nozawa P Tsukuba Shuei HS R/L 11/06/1997<br />i2 Ryuya Kodama P Kanagawa Univ L/L 10/09/1993<br />i3 Yuichi Higoshi C Nodai Okhotsk Univ R/L 09/28/1993<br />i4 Shin Nakamura P Luther Gakuin HS R/R 08/08/1997<br />i5 Takeshi Watanabe P Iizuka HS L/L 09/09/1997<br /><br /><a href="http://www.baystars.co.jp/team/draft/2015/"><u>Baystars</u></a><br />1 Shota Imanaga P Komazawa Univ L/L 09/01/1993 178/80<br />2 Kento Kumahara P Sendai Univ R/L 10/19/1993 178/76<br />3 Tatsuhiro Shibata IF Kokugakuin Univ R/L 12/16/1993 167/68<br />4 Yasutaka Tobashira C NTT Nishinihon R/L 04/11/1990 178/83<br />5 Kakeru Ayabe P Kasumigaura HS R/R 04/25/1997 189/86<br />6 Koki Aoyagi OF Osaka Toin HS R/R 05/19/1997 183/83<br />7 Takuto Nogawa P Saginomiya Seisakusho L/L 09/06/1991 172/75<br /><br />i1 Keisho Amiya C Chiba Eiwa HS R/R 10/03/1997 183/82<br />i2 Musashi Yamamoto IF Kyushu Kokusaidai HS R/R 02/17/1998 188/90<br />i3 Jo Tamura P Kansai Gakuin Univ R/R 11/20/1992 185/86<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://dragons.jp/news/2015/draft.html"><u>Dragons</u></a><br /><strike>x 1 Junpei Takahashi</strike><br />1 Shinnosuke Ogasawara P Tokaidai Sagami HS L/L 10/08/1997 180/83 <br />2 Yu Satoh P Tohoku Fukushi Univ R/L 06/29/1993 187/85<br />3 Takuya Kinoshita C Toyota R/R 12/18/1991 183/92<br />4 Hiroto Fuku P JR Kyushu L/L 06/16/1992 178/85<br />5 Toshiki Abe IF Honda R/R 12/03/1989 185/80<br />6 Ryota Ishioka IF JR Higashinihon L/L 05/25/1992 187/90<br /><br />i1 Seiya Nakagawa P Aichi Univ L/L 12/03/1993 178/81<br />i2 Shu Yoshida P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 07/08/1996 185/83<br />i3 Takuya Mitsuma P Musashi Heat Bears R/R 07/22/1992 183/92<br />i4 Mikihiro Nishihama P Seijo Univ R/R 08/04/1993 174/78<br />i5 Kaito Goya P Hachinohe Kosei HS L/L 09/30/1997 180/75<br />i6 Masaru Watanabe OF Tokai Univ R/L 10/14/1993 172/80<br /><br /><a href="http://carp.co.jp/news15/s-047.html"><u>Carp</u></a><br />1 Akitake Okada P Osaka Shogyo Univ R/L 10/18/1993 184/80<br />2 Hiroki Yokoyama P NTT Higashinihon R/L 03/12/1992 187/85<br />3 Mikiya Takahashi P Hanamaki Higashi HS L/L 06/21/1997 176/74<br />4 Ryota Funakoshi C Oji R/R 11/26/1993 177/79<br />5 Ryoma Nishikawa IF Oji R/L 12/10/1994 176/67<br />6 Oscar Nakaoshi P Honda L/L 03/28/1991 178/78<br />7 Riku Aoki IF Yamagata Chuo HS R/R 11/11/1997 180/84<br /><br /><a href="http://hanshintigers.jp/news/topics/info_4019.html"><u>Tigers</u></a><br />1 Shun Takayama OF Meiji Univ R/L 04/18/1993 181/84<br />2 Seishiro Sakamoto C Meiji Univ R/R 11/10/1993 175/77<br />3 Taichi Takeyasu P Kumamoto Golden Larks R/S 09/27/1994 183/70<br />4 Atsushi Mochizuki P Yokohama Sogakukan HS R/R 08/02/1997 187/82<br />5 Kohyo Aoyagi P Teikyo Univ R/R 12/11/1993 181/79<br />6 Yutaro Itayama OF Asia Univ R/L 03/27/1994 180/76<br /><br /><a href="http://www.giants.jp/G/gnews/news_3910056.html"><u>Giants</u></a><br />1 Toshiki Sakurai P Ritsumeikan Univ R/R 10/21/1993 181/73<br />2 Shinnosuke Shigenobu OF Waseda Univ R/L 04/17/1993 173/67<br />3 Hirotaka Yonahara P Futenma HS R/R 03/09/1998 190/88<br />4 Shingo Usami C Josai Kokusai Univ R/L 06/04/1993 181/86<br />5 Yasuhiro Yamamoto IF Keio Univ R/R 10/10/1993 175/75<br />6 Daisuke Tatsumi P Iwakura HS L/L 04/26/1997 183/79<br />7 Kota Nakagawa P Tokai Univ L/L 02/24/1994 182/81<br />8 Takuya Matsuzaki IF Nihon Seishi Ishinomaki R/R 01/20/1992 175/90<br /><br />i1 Daiki Masuda IF Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 07/29/1993 172/65<br />i2 Daisei Kobayashi C Musashi Heat Bears R/L 01/15/1994 180/82<br />i3 Yusuke Matsuzawa OF Kagawa Olive Guyners L/L 07/01/1992 181/83<br />i4 Kosei Tajima IF Musashi Heat Bears R/L 07/13/1996 175/78<br />i5 Hideyoshi Ohtake P Musashi Heat Bears R/R 07/26/1988 180/87<br />i6 Atsuro Yamashita P Chinzei HS L/L 02/24/1998 178/82<br />i7 Yohei Yajima P Musashi Heat Bears R/R 06/16/1990 179/82<br />i8 Jun Hasegawa P Ishikawa Million Stars R/R 06/15/1991 186/74<br /><br /><u>Swallows</u><br /><strike>x 1 Shun Takayama</strike><br />1 Juri Hara P Toyo Univ R/R 07/19/1993 178/70<br />2 Taishi Hirooka IF Chiben Gakuen HS R/R 04/09/1997 181/76<br />3 Keiji Takahashi P Ryukyudai Heian HS L/L 05/14/1997 178/71<br />4 Julius Higuma P Kochi Chuo HS L/L 11/21/1997 184/74<br />5 Kotaro Yamasaki OF Nihon Univ L/L 08/11/1993 173/67<br />6 Taiki Watanabe IF Senshudai Matsudo HS R/R 06/07/1997 181/79<br /></pre><br /><b>1am:</b> and the feed is live! (Thanks Dani for the link!)<br /><b>1:02am:</b> watching all the old dudes in their suits filing in (whoa Nashida! Ramichan! Tanishige!)<br /><b>1:05am:</b> big cheer for new manager Kanemoto (Tigers) coming in, probably biggest yet.<br /><b>1:06am:</b> another huge cheer for Kimiyasu Kudoh (Hawks)<br /><br /><b>1:08am:</b> Long explanation of the rules. If you don't know: first round is crazy free-for-all with ties broken by a lottery, then they go in waiver order and reverse waiver order for the next rounds (hence the actual order I have below). They're giving counts for all the student players eligible in the draft (it's about 160; there were 78 high school and 81 university letters submitted). <br /><br />And a speech from the commissioner and a commercial break and THEN we will get the first round underway! <br /><br /><b>1:15am:</b> The Eagles name Hirasawa and we're off! <br /><br /><b><u>First-round "picks":</u></b><br /><b>Rakuten Eagles:</b> Taiga Hirasawa, IF, Sendai Ikuei HS<br /><b>Yokohama DeNA Baystars:</b> Shota Imanaga, LHP, Komazawa Univ<br /><b>Orix Buffaloes:</b> Masataka Yoshida, OF, Aoyama Gakuin Univ<br /><b>Chunichi Dragons:</b> Junpei Takahashi, RHP, Ken Gifu Sho HS<br /><b>Seibu Lions:</b> Shinsaburo Tawata, RHP, Fuji Univ<br /><b>Hiroshima Carp:</b> Akitake Okada, RHP, Osaka Shogyo Univ<br /><b>Chiba Lotte Marines:</b> Taiga Hirasawa<br /><b>Hanshin Tigers:</b> Shun Takayama, OF, Meiji Univ<br /><b>Nippon Ham Fighters:</b> Junpei Takahashi<br /><b>Yomiuri Giants:</b> Toshiki Sakurai, P, Ritsumeikan Univ<br /><b>Softbank Hawks:</b> Junpei Takahashi<br /><b>Yakult Swallows: </b>Shun Takayama<br /><br /><br />Okay, looks like it'll be three lotteries: Eagles/Marines for Hirasawa, Tigers/Swallows for Takayama, Dragons/Fighters/Hawks for Takahashi... <br /><br />Hirasawa goes to... Lotte<br />Takahashi goes to... Hawks (wow Kudoh looks overjoyed)<br />Takayama goes to... YAKULT!!!!!!!!!!!! <br /><br />Yay I can keep seeing him hit things at Jingu :) <br /><br />Okay, going to work on the results grid now while they work out the next part of the first round. <br /><br />BTW, can I mention that I'm super happy the Giants took someone I completely don't care about? <br /><br />So the Eagles, Dragons, Tigers, and Fighters need to name new players since they lost lotteries... <br /><br /><b>1:32</b> WAIT what the hell is going on? Kanemoto wants to confirm that Hanshin actually won the Takayama lottery?!?!?!? oh no WAY. Hanshin you already have Hayata Itoh you don't need another one WTF. <br /><br />I guess that means the SWALLOWS now need to name a new player and I need to be grumpy. <br /><br />I feel like Kanemoto is getting an early start on learning how to challenge things as a manager. Jason points out that he's already winning at it :P <br /><br /><b>NEXT DAY EDIT for clarification:</b> It seems, according to Kozo and to Sanspo, that what actually went down was this: <br /><ul><li>Kanemoto and Manaka took their ballots </li><li>Manaka opened his and having never seen one before, and seeing a stamp on it at all instead of a blank page, did a "guts pose" because he thought he had won </li><li>In reality, Kanemoto's slip had the "交渉権獲得" on it, but he didn't even look at it after seeing Manaka go crazy</li><li>When the NPB staffer came by to their tables to take their ballot slips back and confirm, they informed Kanemoto that HE infact had the slip saying he won the lottery</li><li>Then Kanemoto got up and did an interview about how happy he was to get Takayama while the rest of us were like "WTF"</li></ul><div>Poor Manaka. &nbsp;I guess he has some more important things on his mind like beating down the Hawks in the Japan Series tomorrow.</div><div><br /></div><b><u>First Round, Take 2:</u></b><br /><b>Eagles:</b> Rui Okoe, OF, Kanto Daiichi HS<br /><b>Dragons:</b> Shinnosuke Ogasawara, LHP, Tokaidai Sagami HS<br /><b>Fighters:</b> Shinnosuke Ogasawara<br /><b>Swallows:</b> Juri Hara, RHP, Toyo University <br /><br />And of course the DRAGONS get Ogasawara which means I don't get to reuse my old Fighters Ogasawara jersey as I was vaguely hoping for a few seconds there. <br /><br />1:50am: Well, now the Fighters get to choose a first-round pick and then we go in waiver order. Bleh. <br /><br /><b><u>First Round, Take 3:</u></b><br /><b>Fighters:</b> Kenta Uehara, P, Meiji University <br /><br />I had a feeling that would happen. Why couldn't we have gotten Sachiya that way instead if we wanted a big lefty from Meiji? Unlucky year. <br /><br />Okay, they're taking a break for a bit and the TV will probably cut out. <br /><br /><b>First round thoughts:</b><br /><br />No guys were taken from the industrial leagues (or indie but that would be really weird). <br /><br />It was awfully university-heavy: 8 out of 12. <br /><br />While typing in info I just realized that Kenta Uehara is an even more statistical anomaly in some ways because he's so huge but he's also the youngest you can possibly be in your class (Japan starts school in April, so everyone in a year is the same age, the oldest in the class were born in April and the youngest born in March -- you often end up with a lot more athletes being born in April-May-June just because they tended to always be the biggest kids in their class). <br /><br /><b>2:10am</b> and the draft is continuing with Rakuten taking Ryota Yoshimochi and Yokohama taking Kento Kumabara in the 2nd round (after a long interview with Rami explaining exactly why he's happy to get Imanaga). And first shakaijin guy is Taisuke Kondoh from Panasonic, going to Orix. <br /><br />BTW, for the most part from now on I'm just going to go look up guys and fill in the table except for commentary when guys I care about get drafted. <br /><br />I had joked that Yokohama had to take Funamoto or Azegami in the second round to continue their streak of taking my Hosei boys and running them into the ground but we'll have to see what actually happens there :) <br /><br /><b>2:18</b> nevermind here is the part where I go off about Ryota Sekiya going to Lotte and Seishiro Sakamoto going to Hanshin, I guess. Sekiya was a year ahead of Sachiya at Nichidai Sanko AND at Meiji and he's also a good pitcher. And then Seishiro Sakamoto -- Meiji captain this year, great guy, great catcher. He's from Kansai -- infact he was a year or two behind Tetsuto Yamada at Riseisha HS -- so I guess it's ok for him to go to Hanshin -- but I'm really worried he'll get stuck behind Umeno :( <br /><br /><b>2:19</b> OMG THE FIGHTERS TAKE TAKAYUKI KATOH IN THE SECOND ROUND!!! <br /><br />Super excited about this one. He's a big tall pile of arms and legs but I've seen him pitch and he's good. Watched him throw a shutout against ENEOS last year -- I was there to cheer ENEOS but came out of it impressed by Katoh and even got a photo with him -- infact I've been slacking off on posting names because I went to dig up that photo :) (see <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/657125147065782272">photo tweet here</a>) <br /><br /><b>2:33</b> excited that Takuya Kinoshita finally got drafted -- I remember him filling out a form for it back in 2013 but he didn't get picked then <br /><br /><b>2:37</b> Koji Ohshiro! To Orix! Now I guess that means my friend K is going to go watch a LOT of Orix games to see Sachiya AND Koji :) <br /><br /><b>2:50</b> in passing I wanted to note that Yakult took Julius Higuma that I'd mentioned earlier (yay!) and Kotaro Yamasaki from Nichidai (yay!) <br /><br /><b>3:27</b> I was just slogging away translating names into the table when suddenly i heard the FIGHTERS TAKE TOSHITAKE YOKOO FROM KEIO/SANKO/WHATEVER OMG! One of my Sanko boys is going to be a Fighter! holy CRAP! <br /><br /><b>5:43am:</b> Hi! I've translated the main rounds but haven't gotten to the ikusei draft yet. It's basically summarized by saying "The Giants drafted a bunch of BCL guys and a few other semi-interesting names popped up". I'll do it sometime tomorrow. <br /><br />Man, this was a pretty insane draft after all. Still feeling pretty awful about Takayama and on the Fighters missing both their lotteries but whatever. I think it'll all work out in the end. Now my goal for Arizona next year is clearly to get a photo between Arihara and Uehara since they're both so huge.<br /><br /><b>Next day 5:50pm: </b>I'm done entering all the ikusei!<br /><br />BTW, I still stand by my assertion that there are always going to be more athletes born near the start of the school year, and this draft class doesn't contradict that at all:<br /><br /><pre><br />Time of Year Players Born<br />------------ ------------<br />April - Jun 38 (33%)<br />Jul - Sep 25 (22%)<br />Oct - Dec 35 (30%)<br />Jan - Mar 18 (16%)<br /></pre>Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-89225689430335755462015-09-26T08:04:00.000-07:002015-09-26T08:04:23.239-07:00Day 30: Deanna Dreams of FightersHi all! &nbsp;I'm finishing this up finally, and doing so from Japan! &nbsp;I guess that's appropriate given that I started it a few weeks after getting back from my trip here in April. &nbsp;I would feel bad about taking 120 days to finish instead of 30, except that the crazy Nohmi fan who actually started this whole thing never bothered finishing it herself. &nbsp;So, there you are.<br /><br />Day 30 of the <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.jp/2015/05/the-30-day-npb-challenge.html">30 Day NPB Challenge</a>&nbsp;says "Your Dream Team".<br /><br />I think normal people would answer this by putting together the players they like that they think would just totally beat up any opposition they faced.<br /><br />Me, I have decided to list a team of Fighters players that I've liked over the years and that I think would be fun to watch as a team (or just to hang out in the dugout with). &nbsp;Assuming, of course, that I'm taking some of these guys at their prime (I clearly don't actually want a 48-year-old Yukio Tanaka playing, for example).<br /><br />1B Yukio Tanaka<br />2B Masaya Ozaki<br />3B Michihiro Ogasawara<br />SS Makoto Kaneko<br />OF Hichori Morimoto<br />OF Tomochika Tsuboi<br />OF Atsunori Inaba<br />C&nbsp;Ryota Imanari<br />DH Fernando Seguignol<br /><br />SP Hiroshi Kisanuki<br />RP Shintaro Ejiri<br />CL Yohei Kagiya<br /><br />Definitely a few guys like Kazuhito Tadano, Micheal Nakamura, Yoshinori Tateyama, Brian Sweeney, Kazuya Murata, Yohei Kaneko, Masaru Saitoh, Yodai Enoshita, etc over the years that I also wish I could fit into this somehow. &nbsp;I guess I could technically fill out an entire bench but I feel like there needs to be a limit somewhere.<br /><br />You could also just say that my dream team is the 2006 Fighters and leave it at that and you wouldn't be too far off, either.<br /><br />So I guess that's it. &nbsp;You'll probably next hear from me here around draft time, in 4 weeks or so. &nbsp;In the meantime, I'll still be posting random things from baseball games on Twitter while I'm in Japan, certainly!Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-57290222020341254082015-08-31T17:50:00.000-07:002015-08-31T17:55:07.645-07:00Day 29: A Post about Hiroshi KisanukiIt's just a coincidence that Kisanuki wears #29 for the Fighters and I happened to choose Day 29 of the <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-30-day-npb-challenge.html">30-Day NPB Challenge</a> for him. &nbsp;Also I'm sorry this took me forever to write. &nbsp;I feel really bad because he's having a bad season and I want him to do well and I'm worried, but at the same time I want to talk about how cool he is.<br /><br />Day 29 says: "A player you wish he was your friend that you'd be proud to show around".<br /><br />Clearly it would be Fighters pitcher Hiroshi Kisanuki because he's a great guy and because we have random hobbies in common!<br /><br /><b>A Great Guy</b><br /><br />Kisanuki came to the Fighters in a trade that kind of pissed off pretty much everybody. &nbsp;We sent the overly-talented-and-popular outfielder Yoshio Itoi, plus the former-ROY pitcher Tomoya Yagi over to the Orix Buffaloes, and in return we got former Seibu captain Shogo Akada, former Hosei captain Keiji Ohbiki, and uh... former Giants ROY pitcher Hiroshi Kisanuki. &nbsp;All I knew about him up to that point, to be honest, was that Tatsunori Hara disliked him for some reason, but I never really knew what. &nbsp;(In 2008 I was shadowing Jim Allen reporting on the Giants, and we saw Kisanuki running up and down the stairs of the Tokyo Dome, and he was like "I'm betting it's a punishment. &nbsp;That guy is always in Hara's doghouse no matter how well he does.")<br /><br />Of course, Japanese fans are often of the "Well, they're on our team now, we should support them!" mindset, so even as people were yelling hello at Itoi from the Fighters outfield when we played the Buffaloes, they still made a point of welcoming the new guys to the team. &nbsp;Ohbiki actually had a fairly big following from pretty early on (and he ended up being Fighters captain in his second year after the trade, which was odd). &nbsp;Shogo Akada, at least in the Kanto area, had a lot of admirers from his Seibu days. &nbsp;Kisanuki, however, didn't seem to have much of a posse at first.<br /><br />Two weeks into the 2013 season I was watching the Fighters play the Buffaloes in Kobe. &nbsp;It was a notable game for me because it was Kagiya's first pro win! &nbsp;But actually, something else happened that day that was equally important. &nbsp;As batting practice was coming to an end, my friends were like "oh! &nbsp;come down to the fence with us and let's see if Kisanuki will give us some baseball cards."<br /><br />I thought they were kidding, but sure enough, right before heading to the dugout, Kisanuki reached into his bag, pulled out a stack of baseball cards (in sleeves, no less), and started walking along the outfield fence and handing them to everyone in the crowd! &nbsp;They were signed and numbered. &nbsp;He even said a cheerful English "Hello!" at me when he gave me a card.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-414-1.JPG" /><br />Kisanuki handing out cards by the fence in Kobe. <br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-414-2.JPG" /><br />The card he gave me that day. <br /><br />Apparently he just does this whenever he can. &nbsp;I got #234 in April, and then later on in August I got #2170, which means that he seriously obtained and signed and numbered at least 2200 baseball cards to give to fans over the course of a season. &nbsp;And this guy has been a pro pitcher for over a decade. &nbsp;Who DOES that? &nbsp;Kisanuki does, apparently. &nbsp;In an <a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/news/p-bb-tp0-20130405-1107919.html">article in early 2013</a> he said he was going to try to give out 5000 of them that year, and that the team only provided him with the first 1000 cards.<br /><br />But anyway, Kisanuki was also involved in what is one of my favorite but most embarrassing fan stories ever. &nbsp;Basically, in mid-August 2013, my friend Takuma and I had gone up to see two midweek Eagles-Fighters games in Yamagata and Sendai. <br /><br />I had read that Kisanuki is a huge train nerd (more on that later) and I made him a somewhat silly cheering sign - a parody of the Yamanote Line station signs, except instead of phonetically spelling his name underneath the kanji I wrote 我らのエース which means "our ace". &nbsp;He was the starting pitcher at the Yamagata game but had a pretty awful start (giving up 5 runs in like, 2 innings) though the Fighters ended up winning 9-5.<br /><br />The next day at Sendai I thought there was a chance I might see him, so I waited by the outfield fence during batting practice, and when he eventually did came over to give people baseball cards, I &nbsp;held up my sign and waved hello at him and he was like "oh hi! &nbsp;Nice sign, did you make it?" and I was like "Yeah, I made it for yesterday's game and I cheered for you but it didn't work, I'm sorry" and he was like "Whatever, it happens, thank you for cheering" and then he tried to talk to me in English but it didn't work very well (while he was still giving out cards to people. &nbsp;Seriously.)<br /><br />Anyway, I knew I wouldn't be able to get a photo WITH him, but I had a crazy impulse and asked, "Hey, can I take a picture of you holding my sign?" and he was like "uhh... sure? &nbsp;I guess?" and motioned to hand it over the fence, so I did, and I took this picture.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-821-1.JPG" /><br />Kisanuki holding up the sign I made, because he's just that cool. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-821-2.JPG" /><br />The card he gave me that day. <br /><br />Many of the other people standing around in the outfield weren't necessarily normal Fighters fans (this was a weeknight in Sendai, after all) so they were like "Wow that guy is really nice, you must be happy to cheer for a cool player like that", and I was still kind of shaking like "OMFG did I really just ask one of our starting pitchers to hold a silly sign I made for him??"<br /><br /><b>Hobbies in Common -- Railway Fans, Unite!</b><br /><br />So anyway, something you might not necessarily know about me is that while my number one hobby in Japan is clearly baseball, my number two hobby is trains. &nbsp;"Train fandom" is a huge hobby in Japan, although to be fair, it is mostly dominated by men, and there aren't many foreigners who <i>really</i> get into it. &nbsp;The <a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%89%84%E9%81%93%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%83%B3">Japanese wikipedia article</a> about the hobby is really pretty accurate -- there are some people who are just into riding all kinds of trains and obscure lines, some people who like taking pictures of trains, some who like model trains, some who like train melodies and station lunchboxes and such.<br /><br />I am personally an adventurer, riding trains all over the country. &nbsp;I identify my fellow adventurer train nerds because they're also riding local trains in an obscure part of the country and carrying a big thick 時刻表 timetable book. &nbsp;Local trains because special tickets like the Seishun 18 let you ride anywhere for cheap, but no express trains allowed, and timetable books because you can't rely on cellphone coverage everywhere. &nbsp;If a train gets delayed at all, or if you just want to wander around some area you stop in, you better know when the next train out of town is, or you may get stranded. The timetable book is also good for inspiration; some of my better train trips have happened due to just finding something cool-looking in the timetable and deciding to take it. &nbsp;(I accidentally ended up on the awesome&nbsp;<a href="http://kyushu-japan-holidays.com/kyushu-guide/isaburo-and-shinpei.html">Isaburo and Shinpei</a> tourist trains in Kyushu one time after going to Kareigawa, the oldest train station in Japan.)<br /><br />Just as Japanese people are generally surprised to find a white girl doing baseball tourism, they're also surprised to find a white girl doing train tourism. &nbsp;One of my favorite trips had a stop at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tappi-Kaitei_Station">Tappi-Kaitei</a> underground station in the Seikan tunnel between Honshu and Hokkaido, where we got a tour of the steam tunnels and then took an incline cable car up to the surface to see the very northern tip of Aomori and look out over the Tsugaru strait. &nbsp;It was awesome! &nbsp;And of course, through my luck I ended up booking on a tour where all the other participants were a group of old men from Yamaguchi prefecture who were doing some kind of senior tour trip together.<br /><br />Irony: at the beginning of the trip one of them looked at me and made some comment like "Is it ok that this tour won't be in English?" and by the end, they were all like "Holy shit you are one serious train nerd" after I spent half the tour asking the tourguide a bazillion questions about the construction of the tunnel and the upcoming Hokkaido shinkansen development.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/tappi_kaitei.JPG" /><br />One of these things is not like the others... <br /><br />I am, indeed, a train nerd. &nbsp;I wouldn't have gotten to 46 out of the 47 prefectures on local trains otherwise. &nbsp;In 2013 when I was finally eligible for a JR pass again, I spent 21 days covering 8718 kilometers of track, all the way from Wakkanai to Makurazaki, sleeping in 12 different cities and seeing 18 baseball games. &nbsp;Good times. &nbsp;Apologies to any JR employees reading this for exploiting your system.<br /><br />So anyway, this is supposed to be a post about Hiroshi Kisanuki and why I want to be his BFF.<br /><br />Well... Kisanuki is self-declared as プロ野球界随一の鉄道ファン, or "pro baseball's number one railways fan". &nbsp;Fans for ages have talked about how they'd see him riding a train home from the stadium after baseball games, even from his Yomiuri days onwards. &nbsp;(Most players either have a car or get a ride; I do occasionally see baseball players on trains but it's really rare.) &nbsp;In offseason training times, articles about him often mention things like his plans to go ride a steam train on his off days. &nbsp;He was the "One-day station manager" for the train station in his hometown of Satsuma-Sendai (the one in Kagoshima spelled 川内, not the well-known one in Tohoku spelled 仙台) in 2004, and he was supposed to be the one-day station manager as well when the Kyushu shinkansen opened.<br /><br />(Unfortunately that was March 12 2011, so I can't find any record of him actually having done it, partially because of spring training and partially because it was the day after The Big Tohoku Earthquake.)<br /><br />After getting traded to the Fighters, he started writing a column for the Hokkaido Nikkan Sports newspaper called 乗り鉄 about the trains in Hokkaido. &nbsp;The <a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/news/f-bb-tp0-20130705-1152583.html">article about it</a> featured this awesome picture of him at Sapporo station:<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/sapporo_stationmaster.jpg" /><br /><br />There was even a time when the Sapporo metro was decorating a special ファイターズ号 subway car with Fighters players and the next player that was supposed to go on it was Keiji Ohbiki, but Ohbiki didn't really care and Kisanuki was like "Come on, who besides me even rides the train anyway?" and the team staff all agreed he was clearly the biggest train nut and deserved to <a href="http://www.fighters.co.jp/news/detail/3907.html">be on the side of the train</a>, and so he was.<br /><br />Another thing I have in common with Kisanuki is that we both like biking! &nbsp;Back during Spring Training in 2014, Kisanuki made it into the "random bizarre" section of spring training coverage by deciding he wanted to bike from the Fighters' ni-gun camp out to Cape Hedo. &nbsp;It's about 40 kilometers round-trip so he rented a mountain bike to try it out.<br /><br />Kisanuki also has a road named after him in his hometown of Satsuma Sendai. &nbsp;It's a little bit hard to dig up specifics on it but I was able to narrow it down in <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@31.8032296,130.3412354,3a,75y,76.55h,79.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sTIgTh2pumw5NnnzrzgezeA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1">Google Streetview</a> to take a look. &nbsp;Image searches on <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=%E6%9C%A8%E4%BD%90%E8%B2%AB%E3%83%AD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%89&amp;espv=2&amp;biw=1288&amp;bih=629&amp;source=lnms&amp;tbm=isch&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0CAcQ_AUoAWoVChMIzOfMzJ_SxwIVDSmICh3FhAYY">木佐貫ロード</a>&nbsp;show that it came into existance while he was with the Giants but the town has updated the sign as he switched teams. &nbsp;Supposedly it's the road he used to run on for training back in high school.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/kisanuki_road.jpg" /><br /><br />What this all comes down to, though, is that it's hard to find cool people to take train trips with; you really have to be with someone who is meticulous about schedules, and actually enjoys spending long amounts of time riding on trains, and wants to explore random places... and also is someone you can spend long amounts of time with and not want to kill. &nbsp;I only really have one good train friend that fits that. &nbsp;I definitely could use more. &nbsp;And I bet it would be awesome to do a long train ride or hike with Kisanuki. &nbsp;He just seems like such an interesting guy, and we could talk about trains, or baseball, or Japanese history, or whatever, and it would be so cool.<br /><br /><b>I Have No Point Here, I Just Wanted To Post These</b><br /><br />There was this crazy Legends Series at the Tokyo Dome on September 3-5, 2013, which included the longest game in Pacific League history on Sept 4th. &nbsp;But, on Sept 3rd, Kisanuki started for the Fighters, pitched 7 innings, gave up 2 runs, Daikan Yoh put the fighters up 3-2 in the 4th inning, and the two of them were the game heroes! &nbsp;And so when Yoh and Kisanuki came to the outfield to wave to the cheering section, I was in the front row holding up my train station Kisanuki sign, and he saw me and pointed and waved! &nbsp;I mean, I was only one of maybe 3 or 4 people holding up a Kisanuki sign in a sea of Yohs anyway, but that was so cool, and I waved back and gave him a thumbs-up.<br /><br />And then I made my friends all pose for a Kisanuki cheering photo just because.<br /><br />&nbsp; <img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-903-1.JPG" /><br />My friends holding up their Yoh and Kisanuki towels<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-903-2.JPG" /><br />Kisanuki on the big screen during the hero interview<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-903-3.JPG" /><br />We all end up on the big screen too!! &nbsp;I had my camera ready just incase :) &nbsp;You can see me holding my sign over my face and the camera just above it.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-903-4.JPG" /><br />Kisanuki and Yoh come to the outfield to thank the fans and to throw signed baseballs at us (no, I didn't get one)<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kisanuki/13-903-5.JPG" /> <br />Kisanuki cheering section!<br /><br />Okay! &nbsp;Well, that was long. &nbsp;Day 30 is going to be difficult too and I really did want to get it done by the end of July or August, but hopefully I'll get out that last post sometime in the next week. &nbsp;I'm going back to Japan on Sept 19th so I better at least have it done before then.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-77395368662340734782015-07-31T13:13:00.000-07:002015-09-26T08:06:31.295-07:00The 30-Day NPB Challenge(I originally wrote/published this post on May 1st but I wanted it to be top of the blog AND I hope to finish all the entries by the end of July, so it's been redated to then.)<br /><br />About a month ago, a Tigers fan that I only know as "Nice Pitcher Nohmi!" on Twitter started a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/30dayNPBChallenge?src=hash">#30DayNPBChallenge</a> thing. Now, at the time, I was in Japan enjoying my normal try-to-cram-4-months-of-baseball-and-friends-and-stuff-into-2-weeks thing so didn't really have time to take on anything, but I decided that when I got back to the US I'd try to do this.<br /><br />I don't guarantee that I'll actually do 30 days in 30 consecutive days, but I'll try to get through this by the end of, say, June or July.<br /><br />The rules are in this post: http://tigerspride.tumblr.com/post/114858077767<br /><br />Since I dislike having them in an image only, they are:<br /><br />1. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/594234533525917696">The first NPB game you watched</a>&nbsp;(Fighters-Buffaloes Sept 2003)<br />2. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/595634101727690754">Your all-time favorite NPB player</a>&nbsp;(Shunsuke Watanabe)<br />3. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/596031236004524032">Favorite CL team</a>&nbsp;(Swallows)<br />4. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/596480809298567168">Favorite PL team</a>&nbsp;(Fighters)<br />5. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/605511102521180160">The moment you became the fan of a player</a>&nbsp;(Yohei Kagiya)<br />6. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/606238162478755841">Favorite pitcher</a>&nbsp;(Brian Sweeney)<br />7. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/607081013479538688">A batter you'd put all your bets in</a>&nbsp;(Sho Nakata)<br />8. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/607379501740212224">A fielder you enjoy watching</a>&nbsp;(Hirokazu Ibata around 2004-2009)<br />9. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/608122426342244353">A player you think is the most difficult to play against</a>&nbsp;(Okawari-kun now, Matsunaka 10 years ago)<br />10. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/608532020977803264">Favorite battery</a>&nbsp;(Daisuke Takeuchi/Masahiro Nagasaki, Keio 2010)<br />11. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/612805124273016833">A reliever/closer who gives you shivers when he takes the mound</a>&nbsp;(Tetsuya Yamamoto)<br />12. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/613108075902308352">A pitchers' duel you enjoyed or think you would enjoy</a>&nbsp;(Game 5 of the 2007 Japan Series, Fighters' Darvish vs. Dragons' Yamai/Iwase perfect game - <a href="http://bis.npb.or.jp/scores/nipponseries/boxscore2007_5.html">boxscore</a>)<br />13. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/613420829901066240">Most impressive moment in an NPB game</a>&nbsp;(Benny's kubinage throw of Toru Hosokawa after the Lions hit 3 Marines players with pitches in one inning, Sept 24 2008: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uNo1KIkdYI">video</a>)<br />14. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/614163273462624256">Most disappointing moment in an NPB game</a>&nbsp;(Hisashi Takeda giving up homers to Kamei and Abe in the 9th inning of Game 5 of the 2009 Japan Series)<br />15. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/614608536509677568">Funniest scene in an NPB game</a>&nbsp;(Marty Brown <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2015/06/day-15-my-manager-throws-bases-revisited.html">throws bases</a>, May 7 2006)<br />16. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/615420744999137280">Favorite team anthem</a>&nbsp;(ファイターズと共に by TRIPLANE -- love the song but the "Fighters ver." <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFZXgrUTGIU&amp;feature=youtu.be">video</a> with so many friends and so many memories is the best)<br />17. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/616137819430326272">Favorite team logo</a>&nbsp;(Tokyo era Fighters logo)<br />18. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/616382022815059970">Favorite mascot</a>&nbsp;(Fighters ni-gun mascot Cubby)<br />19. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/618109720428048385">Favorite uniform</a>&nbsp;(Swallows alternates navy/black/etc 2011)<br />20. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/618682993532469249">Favorite stadium or dome</a>&nbsp;(Sapporo Dome OF, Jingu IF watching college baseball)<br />21. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/619282673383534593">Coolest chance theme</a>&nbsp;(Baystars "Rising", Swallows "Natsumatsuri", Fighters Sendai songs and Kansai)<br />22. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/620125059491823616">Favorite ouenka</a>&nbsp;(Alltime: Yukio Tanaka, current: Kenshi Sugiya with his switch-hitting switch-melody)<br />23. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/620751906042851328">Manager you trust the most</a>&nbsp;(Trey Hillman and Bobby Valentine)<br />24. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/622091581248528384">A coach you wish he was yours</a>&nbsp;(Masato Yoshii, come back to the Fighters!)<br />25. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/624115077306675200">A young player you have expectations on</a>&nbsp;(Daiki Asama)<br />26. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/625894373474050049">Favorite farm player who you hope makes it to the first team</a>&nbsp;(The four pitchers who I knew at Hosei University who are now on the Baystars and having various issues: Kisho Kagami '10, Tomoya Mikami '11, Kazuki Mishima '12, and Kenta Ishida '14)<br />27. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/626847980155445248">A player you wish he was in your favorite team</a>&nbsp;(Koji Fukutani)<br />28. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/629083104754282496">Favorite rivalry between two NPB players</a>&nbsp;None. My favorite rivalry is Keio vs Waseda, or Everyone vs the Giants.<br />29. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/638514837186699264">A player you wish he was your friend that you'd be proud to show around</a>&nbsp;(Hiroshi Kisanuki, baseball's biggest train nerd and nicest guy)<br />30. <a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds/status/647789108123664384">Your dream team</a>&nbsp;(See post; Fighters dream team of sorts)<br /><br />I may not make separate posts here for ones that need 130 characters or less to answer, such as the first one, which is just going to be: September 2003, Fighters vs. Orix Blue Wave. &nbsp;I wrote an <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2007/11/and-heres-to-you-kanemura-san-hanshin.html">entry on here</a> about it a few years later. <br /><br />(and I suppose several of these are just going to be links to old entries on here, in all honesty)<br /><br />Sometime this summer I'm hoping to write up a guide to watching baseball in Japan since people ask me all the time and I'd like to have something good to link them to. &nbsp;It may have to wait until after Google I/O, though :)<br /><div><br /></div>Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-701127064583870742015-06-26T18:33:00.000-07:002015-06-27T00:14:13.834-07:00Day 15: My Manager Throws Bases, revisitedDay 15 of the <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-30-day-npb-challenge.html">NPB 30-Day Challenge </a>says "Funniest scene in an NPB game".<br /><br />I'm going to have to go with the infamous "Marty Brown Throws Bases" incident here.<br /><br />I figured this one will take way more than 100 characters to adequately explain. &nbsp;It's hard to believe it was almost 10 years ago now (on my birthday no less) <a href="http://bis.npb.or.jp/2006/games/s2006050700467.html">May 7, 2006</a>. &nbsp;It was a month or two into Marty Brown's first season managing in Japan.<br /><br />The Dragons were playing at the old Hiroshima Municipal Stadium (a stadium I would visit later that year and also see the Dragons). &nbsp;Domingo Guzman was pitching for the Dragons, and Mike Romano for the Carp. &nbsp;In the top of the third inning, with the score tied 0-0 and one out, Guzman (bizarrely) was on first base having gotten an infield hit. &nbsp;Masahiro Araki grounded to shortstop Eishin Soyogi, who threw to Akihiro Higashide at second for the easy out on Guzman. &nbsp;Higashide then threw the ball to Kenta Kurihara at first. &nbsp;It was a really close play and the umpire called Araki safe.<br /><br />Romano wasn't too happy about the call and said that it was a "fucked call" or something to that effect. &nbsp;First base umpire Manabe didn't hear exactly what Romano said but just the syllable "fuck" was enough for him to eject Romano from the game. &nbsp;Romano, naturally, was kind of pissed off about this and started yelling at the ump.<br /><br />Marty Brown came out then to talk to the ump himself, or more like, to first announce Koji Hiroike for the pitching change, and THEN to tell the ump where to shove that call. &nbsp;There wasn't a brawl or anything like that, but the entire team came out while Brown was yelling at the ump.<br /><br />Eventually, after getting nowhere with the umpires, Brown ran over to first base, pried the base itself out of the ground, and threw it halfway into right field, to thunderous applause from the crowd, indifference from Araki and Kurihara, synchronized "EJECTED" hand-waves from the umpires, and the amusement of just about anyone else watching. &nbsp;He bowed, Japanese-style, as he was exiting the field. &nbsp;Nobody in Japan had ever seen anything quite so crazy before.<br /><br />Araki and Kurihara went to retrieve the base. &nbsp;The fans kept cheering. &nbsp;The umpires announced that Romano and Brown were both ejected for poor behavior, that Jeff Livesey (bench coach) would be the manager for the rest of the game, and that Hiroike was pitching.<br /><br />Video:<br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/F_ysXwYVGOA" width="420"></iframe><br /><br />Years later when talking about his interpreter at the time -- Joe Furukawa, who had played for the Carp for a few years, interpreted for Brown, and then eventually got a job scouting with the Texas Rangers and spent a year interpreting for Yu Darvish -- <a href="http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/7776864/interpreter-joe-furukawa-speaks-language-baseball-texas-rangers-pitcher-yu-darvish">he recounted it slightly differently</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">"The first time I was ejected from a game, I didn't know the rules and Joe didn't either," Brown said. "You have a certain time to argue and then the umpires would walk away and you would go back to the dugout. We didn't know that and I couldn't get the umpire to talk to me. The only way I could figure out how to get thrown out was to throw the base to right field. And all four umpires threw me out."</blockquote>For the record, by the way, the Carp went on to win the game, 5-2.<br /><br />Brown and Romano were both <a href="http://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2006/05/10/baseball/japanese-baseball/brown-romano-slapped-with-fines/#.VY2yD-lVj1k">slapped with fines</a>&nbsp;from the league later that week.<br /><br />But the funny thing is, the Hiroshima Carp team itself was surprisingly supportive of Brown. &nbsp;They even made T-shirts commemorating the event, that said "DANGER" on the front, and "MY MANAGER THROWS BASES" on the back, for the players/staff to wear, and "I THROW BASES" for Brown himself.<br /><br />There are still a few articles out there about it with photos, like <a href="http://www.asahi.com/sports/bb/OSK200605160070.html">this one from Asahi</a>, or this one about <a href="http://www.npb.or.jp/CGI/teamnews/view_teamnews.cgi?id=1058">auctioning off the shirts</a> to benefit a musical:<br /><br /><center><img border="0" src="http://www.npb.or.jp/teamnews_images/1058_C01.gif" height="180" width="320" /> <img border="0" src="http://www.asahi.com/sports/bb/image/OSK200605160072.jpg" /></center><br />Or you can just do a web image search yourself on <a href="https://www.google.com/search?site=&amp;tbm=isch&amp;source=hp&amp;biw=1440&amp;bih=965&amp;q=%E3%83%99%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E6%8A%95%E3%81%92T%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%84&amp;oq=%E3%83%99%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B9%E6%8A%95%E3%81%92T%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A3%E3%83%84&amp;gs_l=img.3..0.1492.4335.0.4616.2.2.0.0.0.0.201.279.1j0j1.2.0....0...1ac.1j2.64.img..1.1.78.zdG5lDOWnaA">ベース投げTシャツ</a> and find quite a few. <br />I think that's what was the funniest thing about it -- not that the entire episode itself wasn't so funny -- but the reaction of the fans, AND the legacy it created for the rest of that year. &nbsp;Brown also had a few other amusing incidents of getting ejected which also resulted in silly t-shirts being created. &nbsp;This, for example, is a shirt I saw a guy wearing when I was in Hiroshima later that year: <br /><br /><center><a href="http://marinerds.com/pictures/Japan2006/Hiroshima0908/23-WantedShirt.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/Japan2006/Hiroshima0908/23-WantedShirt.JPG" height="450" width="300" /></a></center><br />In the end, Brown was ejected a record 12 times over his 5 years spent managing in Japan (four with Hiroshima, one with Rakuten). &nbsp;But honestly, his ejections shouldn't speak for what he accomplished there. &nbsp;Much like Bobby Valentine, though in a more subtle way, Brown helped develop young players and to introduce a new style of baseball in Hiroshima. &nbsp;The time he was there saw the city build a new MLB-quality ballpark, and a year or two after he left the team made it into the playoffs, no small feat when you're a perennial low-budget team competing with the Giants and Tigers. &nbsp;For a while after Brown left I even heard some of my Japanese friends who like the Carp say that Kenjiro Nomura was an idiot and everyone would rather have Brown there, at least he kept things interesting.<br /><br />BTW, I did consider some other pretty funny things I've witnessed along the way, and my runner-up for this category was the time Tsuyoshi Shinjo thought he should pitch an entire ceremonial first at-bat to Hichori Morimoto (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlyUwzAVNpE">video here</a>&nbsp;- note how his uniform number is actually his face?) but that wasn't really during a game so I figured it didn't count.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-62580595535020948132015-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:002015-06-08T21:05:57.676-07:00Day 9: If it weren't for those meddling home run hitters...Day 9 of the <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-30-day-npb-challenge.html">NPB 30-Day challenge</a> actually says "A player you think is the most difficult to play against".<br /><br />I thought about different ways to interpret this. &nbsp;The obvious one that a lot of people would go for would probably be a really strong pitcher, that when you see they are the scheduled starter against your team, makes you think "Do I really want to go to the game today?". &nbsp;Me being a primarily Pacific League person, there have been a lot of those over the years. &nbsp;Ma-kun in 2013 (or any year really). &nbsp;Darvish (though not an opponent to me). &nbsp;Chihiro Kaneko. &nbsp;Hisashi Iwakuma, of course. &nbsp;Kazumi Saitoh before he got injured. &nbsp;The entirety of the Hawks and/or Lions rotations some years.<br /><br />But what fun would that be?<br /><br />I want to talk about two personal vendettas that specific home run hitters have had against me in the past.<br /><br /><b>Takeya "Okawari-kun" Nakamura</b><br /><br />You've probably heard of the Seibu Lions third baseman Takeya Nakamura. &nbsp;If nothing else, I've written my fair share about him on this blog. &nbsp;He's almost hit 50 home runs 3 times in his career - in 2008 when he hit 46 and in 2009 and 2011 when he hit 48. &nbsp;He would be leading the PL this year if Sho Nakata wasn't one homer ahead of him (at the time of me writing this), and he's on pace to be pretty close to 50 again this year.<br /><br />Anyway, those years that Okawari was pounding the crap out of the PL in general, it always felt to me like he was pounding the Fighters more than anyone else -- and pounding them particularly in games I was watching. &nbsp;So I went and looked up the numbers:<br /><br /><pre>Year HR total HR vs Fighters Games I saw HR in front of me<br />---- -------- -------------- ----------- -----------------<br />2008 46 7 (15%) 11 7 (2 off Fs)<br />2009 48 11 (23%) 11 5 (4 off Fs)<br />2011 48 10 (21%) 3 3 (all off Fs)</pre><br />So maybe I was a little over-paranoid in 2008, but in 2009 and 2011 he definitely hit homeruns against the Fighters a little more than average -- each year he only played 17% of his games against the Fighters but hit 21% and 23% of his homers against them. &nbsp;Of course, there are plenty of reasons why this happened, like home games and interleague pitchers and whatnot, but I'm just justifying my own impression of how things went down.<br /><br />Also, if you think about it, in those years, he was hitting homers at a rate of about 1 HR per 3 games (you'd expect him to hit a homer about 33% of the time; yeah, I know he hit more than one in a few games). &nbsp;However, I saw him in 25 games and 15 homeruns of his, so he hit a homerun about 60% of the time in games I was watching. &nbsp;And it clearly wasn't just against the Fighters; this was also against the Marines, Buffaloes, Dragons, and <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2008/11/japan-series-game-report-giants-vs.html">even the Giants in the 2008 Japan Series</a>.<br /><br />The upshot is, at some point I was so annoyed at losing to Seibu that I had joked to a friend who worked for the team that he ought to hire me as an "Okawari Omamori" of sorts and hang me in the Seibu Dome dugout for good luck since Nakamura was hitting homeruns in pretty much every game I watched there.<br /><br />As for my second personal vendetta...<br /><br /><b>Nobuhiko Matsunaka</b><br /><br />Those of you who just started following NPB recently are probably like "I don't get it. &nbsp;That old guy? &nbsp;Why hasn't he retired yet?" &nbsp;But those of you who remember Matsunaka as the freaking Triple Crown winner back in 2004 who led the Japan team at the 2006 WBC in all batting categories, you'll know what I'm talking about when I say how in my earlier days as a Fighters fan I was pretty damn sure Matsunaka personally wanted me to see as many of his home runs as humanly possible. &nbsp;Heck, the very first time I saw him in person in a game (in Sendai in 2006) he hit a home run.<br /><br />Anyway, looking at numbers, it's clear that the only time this was really true was 2009. &nbsp;Not only did he hit 8 out of his 23 homers against the Fighters (for 35%) but I did personally see 5 of them in person in 7 games. &nbsp;Infact, there was a point that season where I wrote on here how "I've seen Matsunaka in 5 games this season and I've seen him hit 5 homers. &nbsp;Coincidence?"<br /><br />So yeah. &nbsp;My nemesis is Matsunaka 10 years ago and Okawari-kun now. &nbsp;I wonder who the next one will be. &nbsp; Given that it's likely to be a Hawks or Lions slugger born around 1994 I'm going with Tomoya Mori :)Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-62528149566795677522015-06-01T16:01:00.001-07:002015-06-06T00:08:01.970-07:00Day 5: A post about Yohei KagiyaDay 5 of the NPB <a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-30-day-npb-challenge.html">30-day challenge</a> actually says "The moment you became a fan of a player".<br /><br />I have to admit I wasn't entirely sure exactly what this one means, and I certainly have plenty of random stories that could fit this. <br /><br />I mean, is it the moment you took a bad impression to a good one? &nbsp;I actually had a bad impression of Daisuke Miura like 10-15 years ago, until I saw him at a Fan Fest and saw what a great guy he was with fans, especially kids, then read about all of the humanitarian work he did, and then after the earthquake he was tweeting about being at stations with collection boxes, and so on. &nbsp;The kicker was when he turned down a FA offer from Hanshin because "I think the fans need me more in Yokohama". &nbsp;And now Bancho is kicking butt at the age of 41 and I still think it's awesome and I still want him to succeed and I still think he wears too much hair gel.<br /><br />Is it just the moment you took notice of a guy? &nbsp;Moments like when Naoto Inada ran into the stands to get a foul ball during the 2006 playoffs, "running as if I was a hungry bull and it was a piece of food"? &nbsp;Or Hichori wearing some crazy outfit to an All-Star game? Ryota Imanari making me crack up at Fighters Kamagaya Fanfest 2008? &nbsp;Hiroshi Kisanuki giving out baseball cards to fans in the outfield stands and then turning out to be a fellow train nerd?<br /><br />Anyway, I stopped blogging for the most part way before I became known as a Yohei Kagiya fan among all the Fighters regulars, so I thought I'd bend this "becoming a fan of a player" theme and make this a Kagiya post! &nbsp;Yay!<br /><br /><h3>High School</h3><br />The first time I saw Kagiya play was <a href="http://www.asahi.com/koshien/90/sokuhou/2008080662/">Koshien 2008</a>. &nbsp;I wasn't there in person, but I was watching on TV before heading to my eikaiwa job every day at 1pm. &nbsp;Kagiya was the ace pitcher for Hokkai high school, from Hokkaido, and they were playing Toho HS, from Aichi, a geographical matchup much like the Fighters-Dragons Japan Series. &nbsp;I was just going to watch the first few batters before heading off to my train, and then Yusuke Yamada took the very first pitch off of Kagiya and hit it into the stands in right-center field. &nbsp;I typed into the japanesebaseball.com chatroom at the time,<br /><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;" /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;">: HOLY CRAP FIRST PITCH HOMERUN BY YAMADA OH MY GOD</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;">: OH WAIT YOU ARE ALL 30 SECONDS BEHIND THE NHK FEED AREN'T YOU HOPE I DIDN'T RUIN THE GAME OOPS</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;"><br /></span>I missed my train and was a few minutes late to work. &nbsp;It was memorable. &nbsp;Yamada came to Rikkio for college, I met him a few times, he was a nice kid, and sadly he never really got taller than his 166cm he was in high school and went to work for a properties rental company after graduation. &nbsp;So clearly, while Kagiya may have been the worse for their first interaction, he's done better overall in the grand scheme of things.<br /><br /><h3>College</h3><br />The next time I saw Kagiya play was his sophomore year at Chuo, in 2010. &nbsp;I came to Jingu to see Takahiro Fujioka pitch for Toyo, and stuck around for the Chuo-Aoyama game. &nbsp;Kagiya <a href="http://www.tohto-bbl.com/gameinfo/result.php?YEAR=2010&amp;SEASONID=02&amp;LEAGUEID=01&amp;GAMEID=10213">came in to pitch</a> in the 5th inning, and my brain was trying to remember why he looked so familiar, and then I remembered who he was. &nbsp;(Especially when he gave up a home run to Aoyama captain Ko Shimazuru.) Even back then he still had a little yell he would do when he struck batters out.<br /><br />I was actually somewhat of a Chuo fan in general at that point thanks to Kageyama, Nishime, Seiya Inoue, and even Sawamura and Yuhi Yamasaki. &nbsp;And then the next year I went to several of their games to watch Yosuke Shimabukuro pitch.<br /><br />But then Shimabukuro got injured, and at the same time Kagiya was emerging as their ace. &nbsp;I went to several of his games in 2012 and charted him out and noted that he threw more first-pitch strikes than pretty much anyone else in the Tohto league. &nbsp;He still had the same calm but passionate demeanor, and he was still attacking batters, striking them out, throwing a great fastball, and still losing a ton of games because Chuo's team sucked.<br /><br />I tried really hard to meet Kagiya his senior year but it never worked out, sadly. &nbsp;The Tohto league works a little bit different than Tokyo Big 6, especially being on weekdays (embarrassingly, when I got a photo with Shimabukuro, I had to ask another player on the Chuo team to take it, because I didn't know any of the other fans hanging out there).<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/10.904.Chuo2.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/10.904.Chuo3.jpg" /><br />Kagiya during his sophomore year at Chuo. <br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/12.918.Chuo1.JPG" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/12.918.Chuo2.JPG" /><br />Kagiya during his senior year. <br /><b><br /></b><br /><h3>Holding Out For a Hero</h3><br /><br />After Ryota Imanari got traded to the Tigers, I spent the second half of 2012 looking for a new favorite Fighters player. &nbsp;Having your favorite player(s) is part of your identity as a baseball fan in Japan; people know me as a Fighters fan in general but in the grand scheme of all your Fighters fan friends, you need to be identified by which player's camp you're in. &nbsp;(It is not uncommon for someone to be described like "You know her, she's the Konta fan with the purple-letter jersey?") This is especially important for merchandise; during my 5 years wearing an Imanari jersey around I can't count how many people would give me Imanari pinbadges and other similar things. &nbsp;Even at Swallows games at Jingu, wearing my Kawabata jersey, a woman once came up to me like "I heard you were visiting! &nbsp;Welcome home! &nbsp;Here's some Shingo cards I saved for you." &nbsp;Similarly, I would save cards or pins for my friends who liked specific players as well.<br /><br />So Kagiya got drafted by the Fighters and I decided, even before the 2013 season started: Kagiya was going to be my new guy. &nbsp;Not only was I already a fan of his from college, but being as he's from Hokkaido he was unlikely to get traded any time soon, and also, since he's awesome, he was likely to have an impact on the team.<br /><br /><h3>Fighters Year 1 (2013)</h3><br /><br />I got a new uniform with kanji letters made in time for the first Tokyo Dome series of 2013 and ran into another person who also had a custom Kagiya kanji uniform. &nbsp;Whoa! &nbsp;Then I went to Kobe for a weekend and saw Kagiya's first pro win and well, that was the beginning of this crazy run.<br /><br />Later that year when I was back in Japan I got extremely lucky and caught Kagiya outside the dorms at Kamagaya briefly and was stuttering like an idiot as I asked him to sign my uniform and if we could get a photo together. &nbsp;He had a bit of a "why is this girl freaking out" look on his face but I told him how I used to watch him at Chuo and was a huge fan of his, and then he was more like "wait, really?" and then smiled and thanked me for cheering for him and all that. &nbsp;I felt super-awkward but super-happy about it.<br /><br />When I got back to Sapporo, a friend in Hokkaido gave me a Kagiya towel and some other cheering stuff (including the Sapporo-area newspapers from Kagiya's first win -- the only place in the country that had him on the front page, of course!), so I had something to hold up in the stands during the Lucky 7 but also before games to yell hi at him in the outfield. &nbsp;So by the end of 2013 I had solidly gotten most of the fans and Fighters players, Kagiya included, to recognize my new identity as "crazy Kagiya fangirl".<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/13.405.TD1.JPG" /><br />Our completely random and somewhat surprising but totally awesome Kagiya cheering section. <br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/13.414.Kobe.JPG" /><br />Kagiya and Kisanuki warming up before the game in Kobe, where Kagiya got his first pro win. Also the day I became a Kisanuki fan, but that's another story, maybe. <br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/13.817.Kamagaya.JPG" /><br />Finally met him! This is an awful picture of me but to be fair it was August and I had just gotten back that morning from a train trip to Hokkaido. <br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/13.824.Osaka.JPG" /><br />Hanging out at the Osaka Dome with my newly acquired Kagiya towel a week later. <br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/13.905.TD1.JPG" /><br />Kagiya entering the game in the 11th inning of the longest game in Pacific League history. <br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/13.905.TD2.JPG" /><br />Unfortunately, Kagiya gave up a 3-run homer to Akira Nakamura in the top of the 12th... the game ended shortly after midnight. <br /><b><br /></b><br /><h3>Fighters Year 2 (2014)</h3><br /><br />In the fall of 2014 I happened to make it to the final Kamagaya game on 9/23, which was both a national holiday and Kagiya's 24th birthday. &nbsp;Some friends snuck me in line with them near the front, so I got to do the "team high-five greeting" with everyone -- where basically, for the first ten minutes of fans flooding into the stadium, the entire team is out there high-fiving and saying hello to everyone. &nbsp;It's actually pretty comical if you've never seen this sort of thing before -- 40 baseball players and coaches in the concourse as a thousand fans filter past them into the stadium, so all the players have their hands held out and are high-fiving everyone and it's a big chorus of "konnichiwa," "ohayou gozaimasu," "ouen arigatou," etc as fans are flooded past the players, some of whom seem to actually be enjoying the entire thing (Hakumura), some of whom look like they're just amused and smirking at it all (Yukio Tanaka), some of whom definitely are grumpy just like "It's so lame that I have to be out here greeting you all just because I'm having a bad season (Yuki Saitoh), and some of whom are just like "holy crap this line goes on forever!" (the rookies) &nbsp;For me, it's kinda funny because I've met about 70% of the team at one point or another, so some players react to me like "WTF A WHITE GIRL!" and the rest are like "Oh hey it's you, good morning, long time no see".<br /><br />Anyway, I'm making my way down the line, laughing, greeting, etc, and then I got to Kagiya, and he had the "whoa, it's you!"reaction so instead of just high-fiving him like the other players I stopped for a second, took his hand in both of mine, and said in English, "Kagiya-kun! &nbsp;Happy birthday!"<br /><br />And he broke into a huge smile like "Oh! &nbsp;Thank you!!" and shook my hands.<br /><br />Toshiyuki Yanuki, who was standing behind him, said something in Japanese like "Damn dude, it's your birthday? &nbsp;I didn't even know that."<br /><br />Kagiya even pitched an inning, so it was cool to see him out there. &nbsp;The only thing is, the game went over 4 hours, and then there was a season-closing ceremony afterwards, and the last bus that leaves Kamagaya is around 5:12pm, so I pretty much had to bolt right after the game and couldn't catch up with any of the players.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/14.923.Kama1.JPG" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/14.923.Kama2.JPG" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/14.923.Kamagaya1.JPG" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/14.923.Kamagaya2.JPG" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/14.923.Kamagaya3.JPG" /><br /><br /><h3>And so on... (2015)</h3><br /><br />So this spring when I was back in Japan, I went to eight Fighters games; 7 ichi-gun, 1 ni-gun, and the Fighters won all but one of them. &nbsp;The last two games were home games at the Tokyo Dome. &nbsp;When the Fighters win a home game, the game heroes come out to the outfield cheering stands and throw signed baseballs into the crowd. &nbsp;At the Tokyo Dome, almost the entire team runs out onto the field and throws signed baseballs into the crowd.<br /><br />The first game, I was in the front row. &nbsp;The first row almost never gets those signed balls because the players throw them into the stands pretty far. &nbsp;But the second game I was with a different group of friends in the stands, in the 6th row or so, and when the players came out I held my Kagiya towel up and yelled really loudly and he threw a ball almost right to me! &nbsp;That is, my friend two seats to the right caught the ball, and then someone else was like "I actually think he was throwing that to Deanna..."<br /><br />Remember how I said that having "your player" is a really important thing? &nbsp;My friend was kinda like "OMG, of course he was, you should totally have this ball" and he gave it to me. &nbsp;I was like "Really? &nbsp;You sure?" and he said "Yeah, it'll make you happy when you are back in the USA."<br /><br />I had to go look up what the kanji on the back of the ball meant. &nbsp;It's a a yojijukugo, a "four kanji idiom" of sorts, and says "a hundred cuts without bending", really meaning a kind of endurance. &nbsp;I found out that it's the baseball club slogan from Kagiya's high school team at Hokkai, basically. &nbsp;(In this year's Fighters Guide Book they had a photo of him and Hayao Segawa sitting in the Hokkai clubhouse, with that slogan written on the wall.) <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/15.408.TD1.JPG" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/kagiya/15.408.TD2.JPG" />Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-39912265848416933012015-05-05T09:57:00.000-07:002015-05-05T10:24:32.685-07:00Day 2: Your all-time favorite NPB playerThis is a pretty much near-impossible subject for me as I've had way too many players that I've been totally in love with over the years.<br /><div><br /></div><div>I thought about it and figured that if I really had to only pick one player, I would probably choose Shunsuke Watanabe -- the longterm submarine pitcher for the Chiba Lotte Marines. &nbsp;He has always been so much fun to watch when pitching because he's so different from everyone else, and his prolonged success while being so different. &nbsp;Even among other submarine pitchers he's the lowest -- I have several pictures I've taken where his hand is almost scraping the ground while he's releasing the ball. &nbsp;Terms like "fastball" or "curve ball" or whatnot don't really mean anything when they're coming out of his hand.</div><div><br /></div><div>But in addition to being a super-interesting and different pitcher, Shunsuke is also super-interesting as a person. &nbsp;I used to often talk about how bizarre his hero interviews were on here&nbsp;<a href="http://marinerds.blogspot.com/2008/08/game-report-eagles-vs-marines-chiba.html">occasionally</a>. &nbsp;And when I'd read his blog back in the day he always had a lot of insightful things or just random thoughts on his hobbies, as opposed to a lot of other baseball players' blogs. &nbsp;He's also apparently very good at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDeVcoedogw">skipping stones</a>.<br /><br />Anyway, despite that I had media access to the Chiba Lotte Marines stadium for 2 years back in the day thanks to Bobby Valentine, I never ever ever got up the courage to talk to Shunsuke. &nbsp;Though pretty much every English-speaking staff member or player on the team knew he was my favorite player (to the point that Bobby, Larry, and Paul Pupo would mention how "your boyfriend's pitching again today!"), I just wasn't sure what I'd say, plus my Japanese wasn't good enough yet at that point to do a real interview with a Japanese player. &nbsp;So what was I going to say, besides OMG YOU ARE AWESOME?<br /><br />After the 2013 season, Shunsuke became a free agent, and signed a minor-league contract with the Red Sox, but that didn't work out, so he signed with the Lancaster Barnstormers independent team in the Atlantic League for the 2014 season. &nbsp;Yusuke Kajimoto and Tomochika Tsuboi were also on that team, so when I got invited to a friend's wedding back in Philly in September, I took that opportunity to drive out to Lancaster and catch a game. &nbsp;I unfortunately missed Shunsuke pitching by one day (he threw a <a href="http://lancasterbarnstormers.com/game_popup.cfm?scheduleID=1638">complete game win</a> against the Sugarland Skeeters the night before), but I DID get to meet him before the game. &nbsp;(And Kajimoto, though Tsuboi had already retired by then.) &nbsp;I basically told most of the pitchers hanging out that I was looking for Shunsuke and they eventually pointed him my way.<br /><br />The funny thing is we mostly chatted in English! &nbsp;I explained to him in Japanese that I'd been a huge fan of his like forever, I even had my old Watanabe #31 t-shirt with me from the old days. &nbsp;I got him to sign a shikishi and we got a photo together and talked for about 5 minutes before he had to go because the game was starting. &nbsp;He told me how he was enjoying being in the US, living with a local family, learning English from his teammates (though they were teaching him a lot of bad words), and so on. &nbsp;Also we talked about Satozaki, who had announced his retirement only an hour or two before that. &nbsp;Very crazy. &nbsp;I was super-happy I got to meet him!<br /><br /></div><img src="http://marinerds.com/misc/Shunsuke.JPG" /><br /><br />Shunsuke did recently <a href="http://ameblo.jp/watanabe-shunsuke/entry-12019766748.html">announce on his blog</a> that he expects this year will be his last playing baseball, as he wasn't able to get a contract with an MLB organization at all. &nbsp;So I kind of hope I can get out to see him again, but it seems pretty unlikely. &nbsp;Who knows, though.<br /><br />(and yes, there were many many runners-up for this. &nbsp;The funny thing is that I felt bad picking any one Fighters player over another -- between Ogasawara, Hichori, Imanari, Ejiri, Sweeney, Kaneko, Kagiya, Kisanuki, there have just been way too many of these guys over the years, so it was easier to just pick someone from another team.)Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-72384056494538755782014-11-17T13:05:00.001-08:002014-11-17T13:17:54.235-08:00Draft Photopost (of actual draftees! ha!)You know what? &nbsp;It turns out that photo posts are a lot easier to do once you already know who's been drafted! &nbsp;I went and dug around my last 3-4 years of photos to see which of this year's draft class I might have (the number keeps dwindling as I no longer live in Japan and can't go as many games, of course, but)...<br /><br />Anyway, here are photos I took over the last few years of some guys that were drafted last month. I meant to get this out a lot sooner, but well, between work and other things I've been swamped as usual.<br /><br /><b>Sachiya Yamasaki, Meiji University LHP/1B (Nichidai Sanko HS), 1st Round, Orix Buffaloes</b><br /><br />I not only expected more colleges to go after Sachiya, but I also expected the Fighters to try. &nbsp;His dad <a href="http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E5%B4%8E%E7%AB%A0%E5%BC%98">Akihiro</a> was a mostly-minor-league catcher for 11 years, mostly for the Giants, but also for the Fighters for 2 years, before retiring and becoming a minor-league coach for the Fighters for 12 years; he was infact coaching for the Fighters when Sachiya was born. &nbsp;Now he's the manager of the Hyogo Blue Thunders after spending the last decade or so bouncing around as a coach for various indie league teams like the Kochi Fighting Dogs and the Kobe 9 Cruise. <br /><br />(Sachiya's brother Fukuyuki, for the record, is a <a href="http://athletic.segasammy.co.jp/member/profile/un/f_yamasaki">LHP for Sega Sammy</a>. &nbsp;They both do have names starting with 福, the kanji for luck.)<br /><br />But I digress. &nbsp;Sachiya not only comes from a super baseball family, but his baseball pedigree is also pretty solid, as he was a pitcher/1B at Nichidai Sanko (one year ahead of my favorite team ever, but I saw him play there too) and oddly, a pitcher/1B at Meiji University as well (<a href="http://www.big6.gr.jp/system/prog/kojinseiseki_career_individual.php?mode=pc&amp;playerid=AM11YH0">Big6 career stats here</a>; there was a point where he seriously both had enough innings and a good enough ERA to be on the Top 5 pitching list for the league but also enough ABs and AVG to end up in the Top 10 batters for the league. &nbsp;Meiji was kinda just letting him and Hiromi Oka do both things; but in all honesty I still think Sachiya's a better pitcher than Oka and better batter, both for being taller, throwing the ball faster, and being left-handed. But I guess I'm pretty biased.)<br /><br />A story I only heard much later is that right before he entered Sanko, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had a 6-hour surgery. &nbsp;He apparently had a very successful recovery and despite that, entered Sanko and was a regular on their roster by the fall of his freshman year, and pitched at Koshien in the summer of 2010. &nbsp;The Winter 2010 issue of 輝け甲子園の星 had an interview with him and his mom and how she took care of him all through his playing career, it was very sweet.<br /><br />Anyway, whatever. &nbsp;I am a pretty big fan, incase that wasn't obvious. &nbsp;Even though I'm often cheering against Meiji in recent years (having become more of a Rikkio-Todai supporter in addition to my usual Hosei), most of my friends know I was a big Sanko fan and a big Sachiya fan and I did get to meet him once during his sophomore year and he was kinda very incredulous like "WTF the white girl is a Sanko fan?" but I did get a photo with him and he was pretty bemused about it.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Sachiya.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Sachiya3.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Sachiya-Me.jpg" /> <br /><br /><b>Yasuaki Yamasaki, Asia University RHP (Teikyo HS), 1st Round Baystars</b><br /><br />Something really funny is that despite that I have been following this guy since 2009ish, I have nearly zero photos of him whatsoever. &nbsp;There is a good reason for this:<br /><br />The reason I was following him in the first place is that he's from Arakawa, the part of Tokyo I taught JHS English in, and he went to the junior high school next to ours (Ogu Hachiman). &nbsp;One of my students, his older brother had played baseball with Yamasaki on the Nishi-Nippori Glitees, even. &nbsp;Plus, Teikyo is one of the schools I've followed for a long time thanks to Hichori Morimoto (who, much like Yamasaki, is also from Arakawa and half-Japanese, although Hichori's dad is Korean and Yamasaki's mom is Filipino).<br /><br />So, summer of 2010. &nbsp;I planned my schedule around Teikyo's bracket in the East Tokyo tournament. &nbsp;I saw them at Edogawa on July 18th, where they beat Nichidai Tsurugaoka. &nbsp;Bizarrely, Michiori Okabe pitched the first 3 innings of that game, a kid named Hagiya pitched the rest, it was called in the 8th inning on mercy rules anyway.<br /><br />July 20th, Yamasaki started for Teikyo against Kokushikan, a whole bunch of scouts showed up to see him, and... he totally got pounded. &nbsp;I think the eventual game score was 14-6. &nbsp;It was ridiculous.<br /><br />It worked out okay because instead of seeing Teikyo in the semi-finals I saw Shutoku beat Kokushikan and that was pretty awesome, but... yeah. &nbsp;I never actually managed to be at a Teikyo game in person that Yamasaki was pitching at.<br /><br />So then he went to Asia University, and there's two main reasons I never really saw him pitch there...<br /><br />1) he didn't get a ton of time pitching when the guys in front of him were Nao Higashihama and Allen Kuri. &nbsp;You may have heard of those guys.<br />2) Asia seriously won the Tohto League championship SEVEN SEMESTERS IN A ROW and so I actually found it pretty boring to watch them play because they were always winning. &nbsp;Plus they look like a bunch of robots when they're practicing. &nbsp;Like, they all stand in lines really orderly and shout and turn and all this other stuff. &nbsp;It's kinda freaky.<br /><br />I did go to try to see him pitch twice this year actually, and he didn't start either of the Asia games I showed up for. &nbsp;Go figure.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Yasuaki.jpg" /><br /><br /><b>Kohei Arihara, Waseda University RHP (Koryo HS), 1st Round, Fighters</b><br /><br />I first saw Arihara play when he was a freshman in 2011 and he was facing off against Yusuke Nomura (Meiji University, but also Koryo HS, so people were making a big deal about it). &nbsp;I still basically think he's a big ugly dude who throws a baseball pretty fast and I don't quite know why the Fighters had to go in on the sweepstakes for him but at least I have a feeling it'll work out better than Yuki Saitoh did, anyway.<br /><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;<img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Arihara.jpg" /><br />Arihara in his 4th year.<br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Arihara2ndyear.jpg" /><br />Arihara in his sophomore year.<br /><br /><b>Kona Takahashi, Maebashi Ikuei HS RHP, 1st Round, Seibu Lions</b><br /><br />The really stupid thing here is, I actually saw Kona Takahashi play in person at Koshien in 2013, and I'd even been sitting in the 2nd row and taking photos of the first two games of the day.<br /><br />The third game of the day was Joso Gakuin vs. Maebashi Ikuei. &nbsp;I was on the Joso side and they were the expected winners as they're a long-standing powerhouse school, but just like the rest of that tournament, expectations were NOT coming true, and their ace pulled a muscle and had to come out of the game in the 9th and the replacement literally had the game down to one or two more pitches and then BAM, a routine 4-3 play became a runner reaching on error, and then a double, and then Kona Takahashi, the sophomore ace pitcher for Maebashi Ikuei, slammed a TRIPLE that tied the game, and Ikuei won in the 10th inning. Talk about drama.<br /><br />However, from my standpoint, some guys set up a gigantic tripod by the fence between the 2nd and 3rd games, and so my view became blocked not only by the gibbering old men who had been there the whole time but ALSO two dudes with a tripod, so I wasn't getting many good photos AND it was 97 degrees out AND all my ice was gone by the 3rd inning AND that Takahashi kid wasn't even pitching, so I gave up and moved to the shade of the upper part of the stands, which was a generally good call as I could tell I was having the start of heatstroke issues.<br /><br />Of course, Takahashi came out to pitch in the 6th inning and I regret not being there to get better photos of him because he is AWESOME. Just this big tangle of arms and legs that somehow throws a baseball really fast. I left after Game 3 because I was quite sunburnt and exhausted already.<br /><br />I watched the Koshien finals a few days later from my living room back in Tokyo and I was pretty happy for Maebashi Ikuei and even happier that I was sitting in a nice air-conditioned room.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Kona.jpg" /><br />Kona Takahashi pitching (photo taken from way up in the stands)<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Kona2.jpg" /> <br />Takahashi standing on 3rd after his bases-clearing triple.<br /><br /><b>Shogo Nakamura, Waseda University IF (Tenri HS), 1st Round, Chiba Lotte Marines</b><br /><br />This is going to sound dumb, but I've been watching Shogo Nakamura play baseball for four years and really don't know a damn thing about him. &nbsp;When I still lived in Japan and could go to all the Big6 games I would at least know all the players from afar if not more personally, but I have to prioritize which teams I see and interact with, and you can't easily talk to Waseda players for the most part anyway, so I focus less on them. &nbsp;Sorry. &nbsp;So this is at least a photo I have of Nakamura at bat -- he was Waseda's captain this year even. His <a href="http://www.big6.gr.jp/system/prog/kojinseiseki_career_individual.php?mode=pc&amp;playerid=AW11NS0">college record</a>&nbsp;speaks pretty well on what a solid player he is.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Nakamura.jpg" /><br /><br />Onto the next rounds. &nbsp;Let's see...<br /><br /><b>Kenta Ishida, Hosei University LHP, 2nd Round, Yokohama DeNA Baystars</b><br /><br />The funny thing about Ishida is that I actually got to know him a bit during his freshman and sophomore years. &nbsp;I moved back to the US in 2011, which is when Ishida started at Hosei, but I was still going back to Japan for long periods of time and still knew a lot of the guys on the Hosei team so I was still always going to their games and hanging out with the team afterwards.<br /><br />Ishida started pitching regularly in the fall of his freshman year, and even went 3-1 that semester, and one week I brought some photos and got him to sign one, and would you believe... the next week I ended up sitting next to his dad and siblings at a game (he looks like him, but I figured it out for sure when Arihara came out to pitch and his dad went batshit crazy talking about Koryo, so I'm like "aha! &nbsp;You're Ishida's dad! &nbsp;You know the Hiroshima baseball scene pretty well, right?" and he laughed and we got to talking, and sure enough they'd all come up to see Kenta pitch, and it was a big deal to see him face off against Arihara since they'd been rivals in HS too). &nbsp;He complimented me on both my Japanese and my photos since it turns out he'd seen the photos I gave to Kenta the week before! &nbsp;So the next time I ran into him I just gave him a bunch of photos since I figured he could bring them back for the family.<br /><br />So the really funny thing is, the picture of me and Ishida here was actually taken by his dad.<br /><br />The sad part is that I haven't talked to Ishida OR his dad in like 2 years at this point, beyond maybe just saying hello in passing. &nbsp;It's mostly that I haven't been able to get to many Hosei games due to scheduling and weather recently on my trips.<br /><br />Still, I am really amused that the Baystars now collected Kagami, Mikami, Mishima, and Ishida, all the Hosei aces of their respective years.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Ishida.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Ishida2.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Ishida-Me.jpg" /><br />These are actually all photos from Fall 2012. &nbsp;I can see Kanji Kawai in the background behind us in the shot together :)<br /><br /><b>Taiga Egoshi, Komazawa University OF, 3rd round, Hanshin Tigers</b><br /><br />Funny thing about Egoshi is that I remember him showing up as a freshman and immediately playing as a regular at Komadai, and he's been there all along, but since I don't really know their team that well, I literally have nothing to say beyond that he's always looked like he had the build to go pro for as long as I remember. &nbsp;Plus it's great that a guy named Taiga got taken by the Taigas, so to speak.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Egoshi.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Egoshi2.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Egoshi3.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Egoshi4.jpg" /><br /><br /><b>Masayoshi Fukuda, Chuo University OF, 3rd Round, Rakuten Eagles</b><br /><br />Fukuda is a player that I feel extraordinarily sad I never got to meet. I've been watching him for years and when looking through photos I noticed I had a ton of him bowing to the field, smiling with teammates, things like that, the habits I pick up on subconsciously on players. I haven't met a ton of Tohto players in general though and just a handful from Chuo so it's not that weird, I guess.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Fukuda2.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Fukuda4.jpg" /> <br /><br /><b>Daiki Tanaka, Kokugakuin University LHP, 4th Round, Yomiuri Giants</b><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Tanaka.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Tanaka2.jpg" /> <br /><br /><b>Shun Ishikawa, JX-ENEOS IF, 4th Round, Chunichi Dragons</b><br /><br />Ishikawa has a pretty interesting history. He was a slugger in high school and had scouts interested in him back then, but then he got hit by a pitch and had his wrist broken during his senior year. So he went to Meiji after deciding not to go pro. I saw him in a few of the Rookie tournaments and thought he looked pretty good but then he disappeared again due to injuries, he had a knee problem and basically during 4 years at Meiji only had 1 productive semester in league games, and had another problem his senior year. So, he didn't go pro then either but instead went to ENEOS, which is currently one of the most competitive corporate teams (they regularly beat up on professional minor-league teams and I actually think they could regularly beat some of the pro teams if they tried). And the scouts still like him, so here you are. He's from Shiga so it's even close to Nagoya, and we'll see how he does, I guess. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Ishikawa.jpg" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Ishikawa2.jpg" /> <br /><br /><b>Takuma Katoh, Aoyama Gakuin University C, 5th Round, Chunichi Dragons</b><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/KatohTakuma.jpg" /> <br /><br /><b>Yosuke Shimabukuro, Chuo University LHP, 5th Round, Softbank Hawks</b><br /><br />If you don't know who Shimabukuro is, you haven't been following Japanese baseball for a while. He was the ace pitcher for Konan HS's high school team in 2009 and 2010, when they represented Okinawa in the spring and summer both years. Shimabukuro first made splashes in his first game in 2009 when he struck out 19 batters (19 batters!!!) and STILL LOST in the 10th inning on an (well, his) error because Konan couldn't score any runs. He also has a pitching motion that people were calling the "left-handed Tornado" like Hideo Nomo. <br /><br />They lost again in the first game of the summer 2009 Koshien, and that was the last time Shimabukuro would lose a game at Koshien, as Konan went on to become the 6th team in history to sweep Spring and Summer Koshien in 2010, and the first Okinawa team in history to win summer Koshien, period. <br /><br />Despite all of that, almost all of the core Konan team ended up going to college (much like the Nichidai Sanko team in 2011), and many graduated this year. Ganeko, Shimabukuro, and Agena were all college captains this year, and Ohshiro is likely to be next year. <br /><br />Anyway, I went to see Shimabukuro both in the preseason in Spring 2011 and at his very first college game at Jingu. It was pretty crazy -- a ton of people clustered around the bullpen to watch him warm up, which I hadn't seen at a Tohto game in a very long time, and hadn't even really seen at Big 6 since Yuki Saitoh's freshman year. It was a big, big deal. Of course, he ended up going 4 2/3 innings and losing on an error by the first baseman. But still. <br /><br />Later that fall I got up the nerve to talk to him after a game once the craziness about him had settled down. I asked if we could get a photo together, he said sure, we actually ended up having another player take it because I was there alone. I told him I was a huge fan of his during Koshien and hoped he'd do well in college and thought he seemed like a really nice boy. <br /><br />Unfortunately, his college career was not entirely stellar, although that partially has to do with the fact that Chuo has been pretty awful lately relatively, and partially due to some elbow/shoulder pain. I watched Yohei Kagiya lose a ton of games due to the lack of run support and a ton of errors behind him as well, which is really weird because Chuo always has a few fielders/batters that are stellar and end up going pro as well. I really don't get it. Anyway, let's hope that Shimabukuro has a good pro career (except for when he plays against the Fighters). At least he shouldn't be given the Yuki Saitoh treatment, given that he wasn't hyped during college and wasn't drafted in the first round. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Shimabukuro.jpg" /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Shimabukuro2.jpg" /><br />These two are from a preseason game at Hosei. <br/><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Shimabukuro3.jpg" /><br />Shimabukuro in the bullpen before his very first game playing for Chuo. <br/><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Shimabukuro-Me.jpg" /><br /><br /><b>Koki Yamashita, Kokugakuin University IF, 5th Round, Yokohama Baystars</b><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Yamashita.jpg" /> <br /><br /><b>Masataka Iryo, JX-ENEOS OF, 6th Round, Chunichi Dragons</b><br/><br/>Iryo has been playing for ENEOS for as long as I've been following them and he's been in the draft magazines for almost that long too. I don't entirely understand the story there. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Iryo.jpg" /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2014/Iryo2.jpg" />Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-89830674284534819722014-10-22T12:51:00.001-07:002014-10-23T14:31:40.739-07:00Draft 2014 LivebloggingI realize I haven't actually updated this blog in a year, but don't think I haven't been doing my normal rounds of Japanese baseball (I had my 2-week trips to Japan in April and September/October to get my fix of cheering sections and college baseball and other amateur baseball, and I&nbsp;did crazy things like meeting Shunsuke Watanabe in Lancaster). &nbsp;I do often update&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/marinerds">Twitter</a>&nbsp;when I'm doing baseball stuff although not always in English.&nbsp;If I have time tonight I'll put up a photo post with a few guys going into the draft, but it's unclear if I will. &nbsp;I don't really have a lot of time to write anymore; working at Google for the past year has really kind of taken a lot of my brainpower.<br /><br />But the draft is always important to me and I'm not about to stop this tradition (this will be my 9th year in a row translating the draft), even if I end up not being able to stay awake the entire night.<br /><br />Since I'm not in Japan this year either I have absolutely no idea if I'll be able to watch the live broadcast, but I'll be watching info come across sources such as&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/professional/draft/2014/">Nikkan Sports</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/npb/2014/draft/">Sponichi</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/draft/14/top.html">Sanspo</a>, etc. &nbsp;I bought some draft magazines when I was over there (only 2 weeks ago) and should be fairly well-equipped to deal with it.<br /><br />Well, aside from being annoyed if the Fighters seriously go for Arihara instead of Sachiya Yamasaki.<br /><br />Moving the chart up to the front... rant and liveblog below, for those who just want to see the results. I believe I'm 100% done tracking down info now (as of 12pm on the 23rd in the US) <br /><br />By the way, I do want to call out a few interesting players since they may get lost in the shuffle otherwise: <ul><li>Yuma Mune, Orix round 2 - his father is from Ghana. They call him "The Munerin of Yokohama" apparently, though, he is supposedly very funny and has a similar play style. <li>Luciano Fernando, Eagles round 4 - his grandmother is Japanese and other than that he's from a Japanese-descended Brazilian family, came to Japan when he was 5. Played HS baseball at Kiryu Daiichi and supposedly has a crazy strong arm. <li>Takuya Kawai, Giants Ikusei #2 - actually graduated from Obirin in 2012, but stayed there coaching the college team, and decided to somehow enter the draft this year. <li>Shinnosuke Takahashi, Giants Ikusei #4 - much as another Shinnosuke entering the Giants disgusts me, this guy is kinda interesting, after high school he joined an agency that is geared towards trying to get Japanese players into the Majors or at least into American baseball clubs, so he played ball for the SUNY Herkimer Generals the last few years (<a href ="http://www.herkimergenerals.com/mens-sports/mens-baseball/roster/athlete/823">page here</a>) <li>Yusuke Tamamura, Lions #4. I still don't know what his story is. He was a superstar pitcher at Tsuruga Kehi, the Fukui Prefecture powerhouse HS team, and pages show he intended to go to Asia University, but apparently did not, as I can't find him listed in any of my college magazines. I find this more curious because it is definitely not the first case of me finding a high school star player who decided NOT to put up with the ridiculous military-like way the players train at Asia (the one before this was Kenichi Suganuma, from my favorite Sanko team -- he was at Asia for about a semester before he said "screw this" and took a semester off and enrolled at Nittaidai the next year). </ul><br /><br /><pre>Name Pos HS/Univ/Company T/B DOB Ht/Wt <br />-------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- -------<br /><a href="http://www.softbankhawks.co.jp/team/draft/2014/">Softbank Hawks</a><br />1 Yuki Matsumoto P Morioka Univ HS R/L 04/14/1996 183/80<br />2 Ryoya Kurihara C Harue Tech HS R/L 07/04/1996 178/73<br />3 Shogo Furuzawa IF Kyushu Kokusai Univ HS R/R 09/05/1996 178/80<br />4 Shunsuke Kasaya P Oita Shogyo HS L/L 03/17/1997 172/62<br />5 Yosuke Shimabukuro P Chuo Univ L/L 10/24/1992 173/71<br /><br /><a href="http://www.giants.jp/G/gnews/news_399066.html">Yomiuri Giants</a><br />1 Kazuma Okamoto IF Chiben Gakuen HS R/R 06/30/1996 183/95<br />2 Chiaki Tone P Nihon Univ L/L 10/17/1992 175/90<br />3 Hayato Takagi P Mitsubishi Eng Nagoya R/R 07/13/1989 178/80<br />4 Daiki Tanaka P Kokugakuin Univ L/L 08/07/1992 182/76<br /><br />I1 Shinpei Shinohara P Kagawa Olive Guyners R/L 06/13/1990 186/95<br />I2 Takuya Kawai IF Oberlin Univ* R/S 11/25/1990 174/71<br />I3 Takaya Tanaka C Yamanashi Gakuin Univ R/L 08/27/1992 178/80<br />I4 Shinnosuke Takahashi P Kisarazu Sogo HS* R/L 07/25/1994 187/85<br /><br />* Kawai graduated from Obirin/Oberlin in 2012 but stayed there as a coach for the college team.<br />* Takahashi had actually been playing in the US for the SUNY Herkimer Generals (<a href="http://www.herkimergenerals.com/mens-sports/mens-baseball/roster/athlete/823">player page</a>)<br /><br /><a href="http://www.buffaloes.co.jp/news/detail/4117.html">Orix Buffaloes</a><br />1 Sachiya Yamasaki P Meiji Univ L/L 09/09/1992 186/88<br />2 Yuma Mune IF Yokohama Hayato HS R/L 06/07/1996 181/75<br />3 Kodai Sano P Oita HS R/R 09/02/1996 182/70<br />4 Ban Takagi P NTT Higashinihon R/R 06/01/1990 181/80<br />5 Koki Saitoh P Hokusho HS L/L 12/18/1996 180/77<br />6 Seiichi Sakayori P JR Higashinihon L/L 04/05/1990 180/70<br />7 Masahiro Nishino IF JR Higashinihon R/L 08/02/1990 166/66<br />8 Yuya Oda OF Nihon Seimei R/L 11/04/1989 172/75<br />9 Yu Suzuki P Yukigaya HS R/R 02/05/1997 180/75<br /><br /><a href="http://hanshintigers.jp/news/topics/draft2014.html">Hanshin Tigers</a><br /><strike>1 Kohei Arihara<br />1 Yasuaki Yamasaki</strike><br />1 Yuya Yokoyama P Shin Nittetsu Kashima L/L 02/21/1994 182/82<br />2 Tsuyoshi Ishizaki P Shin Nittetsu Kashima R/R 09/09/1990 182/85<br />3 Taiga Egoshi OF Komazawa Univ R/R 03/12/1993 182/85<br />4 Koki Moriya P Honda Suzuka R/R 11/25/1993 183/78<br />5 Kai Ueda IF Ohmi HS R/R 04/19/1996 175/72<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fighters.co.jp/news/detail/4935.html">Nippon Ham Fighters</a><br />1 Kohei Arihara P Waseda Univ R/R 08/11/1992 187/90<br />2 Yushi Shimizu C Kyushu Kokusai Univ HS R/R 05/22/1996 184/86<br />3 Daiki Asama OF Yokohama HS R/L 06/21/1996 182/74<br />4 Naoya Ishikawa P Yamagata Chuo HS R/R 07/11/1996 191/78<br />5 Hayao Segawa P Muroran Sharks L/L 10/21/1986 177/77<br />6 Shota Tatsuta P Yamato Koryo HS R/R 06/04/1996 181/82<br />7 Yuto Takahama IF Yokohama HS R/R 08/08/1996 182/82<br />8 Kengo Ota IF Kawagoe Kogyo HS R/L 01/19/1997 186/78<br />9 Masataka Satoh IF Aichi Keisei HS R/R 04/16/1996 169/75<br /><br /><a href="http://carp.co.jp/news14/s-063.html">Hiroshima Carp</a><br /><strike>1 Kohei Arihara</strike><br />1 Takayoshi Nohma IF Chubu Gakuin Univ R/L 01/28/1993 180/80<br />2 Kazuki Yabuta P Asia Univ R/R 08/07/1992 188/82<br />3 Atsuya Horie P Takamatsu Kita HS L/L 02/21/1997 177/72<br />4 Koya Fujii P Okayama Sanyo HS R/L 07/29/1996 181/81<br />5 Tatsuki Kuwahara IF Tokuha Kikukawa HS R/L 07/04/1996 182/73<br />6 Tetsuya Iida P JR Higashinihon L/L 03/28/1991 182/80<br />7 Daisuke Tada C Naruto Uzushio HS R/R 05/25/1996 189/81<br /><br />I1 Kodai Matsuura C MSH Medical Vocational R/R 04/06/1993 175/75<br />I2 Satoshi Kimura IF Tokoha Tachibana HS R/R 05/06/1996 180/75<br /><br /><a href="http://www.marines.co.jp/expansion/2014draft/">Chiba Lotte Marines</a><br />1 Shogo Nakamura IF Waseda Univ R/R 05/28/1992 180/75<br />2 Eisuke Tanaka P Kyoto Univ R/R 04/02/1992 180/75<br />3 Daiki Iwashita P Seiryo HS R/R 10/02/1996 181/83<br />4 Kandai Terashima C Soka Univ R/R 10/12/1992 183/82<br />5 Kazuya Katsuki IF Osaka Toin HS R/L 04/16/1996 176/83<br />6 Atsushi Miyazaki P Hiroshima Kokusai Univ L/L 12/08/1992 171/72<br />7 Naoto Wakimoto OF Kendai Takasaki HS R/L 06/10/1996 180/80<br /><br /><a href="http://dragons.jp/news/2014/draftlist.html">Chunichi Dragons</a><br />1 Ryosuke Nomura P Mitsubishi Pwr Yokohama R/R 07/09/1993 187/80 <br />2 Tomohiro Hamada P Kyushu Sangyo Univ L/L 10/01/1992 183/75<br />3 Shota Tomonaga OF Nippon Express R/L 04/01/1991 170/76<br />4 Shun Ishikawa IF JX-ENEOS R/R 05/26/1990 178/81<br />5 Takuma Katoh C Aoyama Gakuin Univ R/R 04/29/1992 174/71<br />6 Masataka Iryo OF JX-ENEOS R/L 11/04/1989 175/86<br />7 Issei Endoh IF Tokyo Gas R/L 03/23/1989 180/78<br />8 Masashi Yamamoto P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/L 11/03/1994 173/78<br />9 Takeshi Kaneko P Osaka Shogyo Univ R/R 02/25/1993 183/90<br /><br />I1 Yuichi Satoh P Tokaidai Sagami HS R/R 09/30/1996 192/95<br />I2 Kodai Ishigaki P Inabe Sogo HS R/R 08/08/1996 180/76<br />I3 Masaru Fujiyoshi C Shugakukan HS R/L 08/07/1996 180/74<br />I4 Hiroki Kondoh OF Meijo Univ R/R 02/12/1993 179/78<br /><br /><a href="http://www.seibulions.jp/news/detail/9472.html">Seibu Lions</a><br />1 Kona Takahashi P Maebashi Ikuei HS R/R 02/03/1997 188/88<br />2 Yasuo Sano P Heisei Kokusai Univ L/L 01/18/1993 176/78<br />3 Shuta Tonosaki IF Fuji Univ R/R 03/14/1993 177/79<br />4 Yusuke Tamamura P Tsuruga Kehi HS* R/R 11/04/1995 181/79 <br />5 Haruka Yamada IF Saga Kogyo HS R/R 09/30/1996 177/73<br /><br />I1 Daisuke Togawa OF Hokkai HS R/L 04/29/1996 188/86<br /><br />* Tamamura graduated from Tsuruga Kehi LAST year. Supposedly he was going to attend<br /> Asia University, as I saw him listed there a bunch, but must have dropped out.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.baystars.co.jp/team/draft/2014/?p=top">DeNA Baystars</a><br /><strike>1 Kohei Arihara</strike><br />1 Yasuaki Yamasaki P Asia Univ R/R 10/02/1992 177/84<br />2 Kenta Ishida P Hosei Univ L/L 03/01/1993 180/83<br />3 Toshihiko Kuramoto IF Nihon Shinyaku R/L 01/07/1991 180/82<br />4 Motoharu Fukuchi P Mitsubishi Pwr Yokohama L/L 06/21/1990 182/88<br />5 Koki Yamashita IF Kokugakuin Univ R/L 01/31/1993 173/70<br />6 Hiroki Momose IF Matsumoto Daiichi HS R/L 03/11/1997 176/69<br />7 Satoshi Iizuka P Nihon Bunri HS R/L 10/11/1996 185/76<br /><br />I1 Toui Kamei C Nissei HS R/R 02/09/1997 180/75<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rakuteneagles.jp/team/contents/draft/2014.php">Rakuten Eagles</a><br />1 Tomohiro Anraku P Saibi HS R/L 11/04/1996 187/88<br />2 Fumiya Ono P Nishinihon Tankidai HS R/R 10/23/1996 176/71<br />3 Masayoshi Fukuda OF Chuo Univ R/R 04/17/1992 174/76<br />4 Luciano Fernando OF Hakuoh Univ R/R 04/13/1992 175/79<br />5 Takahiro Irino P Tokushima Indigo Socks R/L 11/26/1988 180/84<br />6 Masashi Katoh P JR Higashinihon Tohoku R/R 09/07/1989 173/71<br />7 Ryota Itoh OF Nihon Seishi Ishinomaki L/L 07/27/1989 194/92<br /><br />I1 Takumaru Yaoita OF Seikou Gakuin HS R/L 01/17/1997 180/76<br />I2 Hiroki Osakaya IF Aomori Chuo Gakuin Univ R/R 11/09/1992 179/83<br /><br /><a href="http://www.yakult-swallows.co.jp/information/detail.php?article_seq=17818">Yakult Swallows</a><br /><strike>1 Tomohiro Anraku</strike><br />1 Shingo Takeshita P Yamaha L/L 10/20/1990 180/84<br />2 Ren Kazahari P Nodai Hokkaido Okhotsk R/R 02/26/1993 181/82<br />3 Koji Yamakawa C Fukuoka Kodai Joto HS R/R 11/15/1996 184/86<br />4 Tetsuya Terada P Kagawa Olive Guyners R/R 04/02/1987 185/92<br />5 Yusaku Nakamoto P Hakuwa Victorys L/L 12/12/1988 178/76<br />6 Hiroaki Dohi P Honda Suzuka R/R 11/16/1990 181/85<br />7 Izumi Hara OF Daichi Kogyo Univ R/R 07/26/1992 190/96<br /><br />I1 Shogo Nakashima P Fukuoka Univ R/R 06/15/1992 178/72<br /></pre><br /><br /><b>First round starting now! &nbsp;OMG!</b><br />Swallows - Tomohiro Anraku (P, Saibi HS)<br />Eagles - Anraku<br />Baystars - Kohei Arihara (P, Waseda Univ)<br />Lions - Kona Takahashi (P, Maebashi Ikuei HS)<br />Dragons - Ryosuke Nomura &nbsp;(P, Mitsubishi Power Yokohama)<br />Marines - Shogo Nakamura (IF, Waseda Univ)<br />Carp - Arihara<br />Fighters - Arihara<br />Tigers - Arihara<br />Buffaloes - Sachiya Yamasaki (P, Meiji Univ)<br />Giants - Kazuma Okamoto (IF, Chiben Wakayama HS)<br />Hawks - Yuki Matsumoto (P, Morioka Univ HS)<br /><br />Looks like Anraku is going to the Eagles -- heh, anRAKU, RAKUten, it makes sense.<br />Arihara is apparently going to... the Fighters. &nbsp;ARRRRGGGGHHH. &nbsp;I guess I'll get used to it just like I did when they took Yuki Saitoh a few years back, and I actually believe Arihara is a better pitcher, but I'm just not a Waseda fan, you all know that.<br /><br />Okay so the second "first" round BECAUSE YOU IDIOTS ALL TOOK ARIHARA:<br />Yakult: Shingo Takeshita (P, Yamaha)<br />Baystars: Yasuaki Yamasaki (P, Asia Univ)<br />Carp: Takayoshi Nohma (IF, Chubu Gakuin Univ)<br />Hanshin: Yamasaki<br /><br />And Yamasaki, who lived down the street from the JHS I taught at but went to the next one over because mine had no baseball team, is going to be a Yokohama Baystar.<br /><br />Hanshin will now pick... Yuya Yokoyama (P, Shin Nittetsu Sumikin Kashima), thus ending the first round. &nbsp;I suppose that was less painful than some past years.<br /><br /><b>So the ACTUAL FIRST ROUND RESULTS:</b><br />Swallows - Shingo Takeshita (P, Yamaha)<br />Eagles - Tomohiro Anraku (P, Saibi HS)<br />Baystars - Yasuaki Yamasaki (P, Asia Univ)<br />Lions - Kona Takahashi (P, Maebashi Ikuei HS)<br />Dragons - Ryosuke Nomura &nbsp;(P, Mitsubishi Power Yokohama)<br />Marines - Shogo Nakamura (IF, Waseda Univ)<br />Carp - Takayoshi Nohma (IF, Chubu Gakuin Univ)<br />Fighters - Kohei Arihara (P, Waseda Univ)<br />Tigers - Yuya Yokoyama (P, Shin Nittetsu Sumikin Kashima)<br />Buffaloes - Sachiya Yamasaki (P, Meiji Univ)<br />Giants - Kazuma Okamoto (IF, Chiben Gakuen HS)<br />Hawks - Yuki Matsumoto (P, Morioka Univ HS)<br /><br />Turning off the TV and concentrating on the website updates until I fall asleep from here on in. &nbsp;I'll add notes as I get excited or angry about picks (especially wondering whether some of my former favorite college guys who are now in the industrial leagues will get drafted)<br /><br />So here we go into round 2, and I'm reminiscing about how annoyed I was at Yasuaki Yamasaki in the 2010 East Tokyo HS tourney because I planned my schedule to see Teikyo HS at Jingu and then he choked in front of scouts, they lost, instead I got to see Shutoku and Taiki Mitsumata so I guess it all worked out okay, but anyway,<br /><br />THE BAYSTARS JUST TOOK KENTA ISHIDA WITH THEIR 2ND ROUND PICK BECAUSE THEY ALWAYS TAKE A HOSEI PITCHER WITH THE 2ND ROUND PICK AND OMG THAT'S NUTS because now they have Kagami, Mishima, Mikami, and Ishida. &nbsp;I guess Mikami technically came out of ENEOS and was a 4th rounder but the other three were all 2nd round out of Hosei to Baystars and wow.<br /><br />And hey, Eisuke Tanaka got picked by Lotte in the 2nd round too! &nbsp;That's great! &nbsp;He will be the first pro player ever out of Kyoto University -- there was a super interesting article about him in the draft magazine including the details of his engineering thesis and how he went to a high school that "only practiced baseball for 90 minutes a day, thus meaning they would never go to Koshien" and so on, and how he came to Kyoto Univ and stopped their 60-game losing streak (we could use someone like that at Todai dammit) and so on. &nbsp;Yay!<br /><br />Something that only comes up when you are entering data: Rakuten draft pick #2, Fumiya Ono, his birthday is today (Oct 23).<br /><br />Hmm, so some notes, I'm glad to see the non-Japanese guys like Luciano Fernando (Brazilian) and Yuma Mune (half-Ghana) getting drafted, that's a step in the right direction.<br /><br />Also okay so Shimabukuro DID get drafted. I was worried because he had a pretty crap year and Chuo has kinda sucked lately. <br /><br />Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-70737705147276976082013-10-23T21:14:00.001-07:002013-10-24T14:27:09.312-07:00Draft 2013 Liveblogging!Alright, just setting up this post so I have it ready to go when things start in 4 hours (at 1am Pacific time. &nbsp;Whee. &nbsp;Yes, I'll be here all night!)<br /><br />Since I'm not in Japan this year either I'll be hoping to catch a justin.tv broadcast of the TV part, and I'll just be watching the picks come in on various news sources such as <a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/professional/draft/2013/">Nikkan Sports</a>, <a href="http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/npb/2013/draft/">Sponichi</a>, <a href="http://www.sanspo.com/baseball/draft/13/top.html">Sanspo</a>, etc. <br /><br />Fortunately this year is not quite as emotionally draining for me as some past years have been, at least.<br /><br /><pre>Name Pos HS/Univ/Company T/B DOB Ht/Wt <br />-------------------- --- --------------- --- ---------- -------<br />Fighters<br /><strike>1 Yuki Matsui</strike><br /><strike>1 Yuta Kakita</strike><br /><strike>1 Yuta Iwasada</strike><br />1 Ryo Watanabe IF Tokaidai Kofu HS R/R 04/30/1995 178/80<br />2 Hiroshi Urano P Sega Sammy R/R 07/22/1989 178/70<br />3 Hiromi Oka IF Meiji University R/R 07/15/1991 185/83<br />4 Hirotoshi Takanashi P Yamanashi Gakuin Univ R/R 06/05/1991 187/82<br />5 Masashi Kanehira P Tokai Rika L/L 03/24/1991 180/80<br />6 Akihiro Hakumura P Keio Univ R/L 12/11/1991 187/84<br />7 Ryosuke Kishisato P Hanamaki Higashi R/L 04/03/1995 181/75<br />8 Ryo Ishikawa C Teikyo HS R/R 04/20/1995 180/85<br /><br />Swallows<br /><strike>1 Daichi Osera</strike><br />1 Toshihiro Sugiura P Kokugakuin Univ R/R 02/25/1992 188/82<br />2 Naomichi Nishiura IF Hosei Univ R/R 04/11/1991 178/75<br />3 Ryo Akiyoshi P Panasonic R/R 03/21/1989 182/76<br />4 Keiji Iwahashi P Kyoto Sangyo Univ L/L 04/23/1991 185/75<br />5 Yuto Koyama P Kanzei HS L/L 09/01/1995 183/78<br />6 Ryota Fujii C City Light Okayama R/L 09/30/1988 177/70<br /><br />Orix<br />1 Kazumasa Yoshida P JR Higashinihon R/L 09/24/1989 191/90 <br />2 Daiki Tomei P Fuji Juko R/R 06/15/1989 178/78<br />3 Kenya Wakatsuki C Hanasaki Tokuharu HS R/R 10/04/1995 178/80<br />4 Satoshi Sonobe IF Seiko Gakuin HS R/R 11/30/1995 184/87<br />5 Yuto Yoshida OF Hokusho HS R/L 04/21/1995 178/73<br />6 Kyo Okunami IF Soshi Gakuen HS R/R 08/29/1995 176/95<br />7 Kento Shibata P Shinano Grandserows R/R 02/08/1989 175/83<br />8 Satoshi Ohyama P Sega Sammy L/L 10/06/1988 168/69<br /><br />I1. Hiroaki Azuma IF Tokushima Indigo Socks R/R 02/20/1992 180/74<br /><br />Baystars<br /><strike>1 Yuki Matsui</strike><br />1 Yuta Kakita P Nihon Seimei R/R 08/27/1992 182/85<br />2 Shingo Hirata P Honda Kumamoto R/R 08/29/1989 181/72<br />3 Hiroki Minei C Asia University R/R 06/04/1991 175/75<br />4 Tomoya Mikami P JX-ENEOS R/R 04/10/1989 190/90<br />5 Taiki Sekine OF Toho HS L/L 06/28/1995 174/76<br />6 Shun Yamashita P Matsumoto Univ L/L 08/19/1991 182/73<br /><br />I1. Yoshiki Sunada P Meioh HS L/L 07/20/1995 179/78<br />I2. Kohei Mantani P Miki House R/L 08/28/1987 185/78<br /><br />Softbank<br /><strike>1 Yuki Matsui</strike><br /><strike>1 Toshihiro Sugiura</strike><br />1 Ren Kajiya P JR Kyushu R/R 11/25/1991 184/82<br />2 Yuito Mori P MB Kurashiki Oceans R/R 01/08/1992 173/72<br />3 Ken Okamoto P Kazusa Magic R/R 10/29/1992 177/80<br />4 Seiji Uebayashi OF Sendai Ikuei HS R/L 08/01/1995 184/77<br /><br />I1. Shuta Ishikawa P Soka Univ R/R 12/27/1991 <br />I2. Shinsuke Toho P Hamada Shogyo HS R/R 09/17/1995<br />I3. Kaisei Sone IF Kyoto Kokusai HS R/L 04/24/1995<br />I4. Masahiro Harimoto C Bukkyo Univ R/R 10/13/1990<br /><br />Dragons<br /><strike>1 Yuki Matsui</strike><br />1 Shota Suzuki P Seirei Christopher HS R/R 06/16/1995 183/74<br />2 Katsuki Matayoshi P Kagawa Olive Guyners R/R 11/04/1990 180/74<br />3 Iori Katsuya C Osaka Shodai R/R 07/09/1991 185/80<br />4 Takuma Achira P JR Higashinihon R/R 11/20/1992 189/88<br />5 Daisuke Sobue P Toyota R/L 08/11/1987 174/71<br />6 Takuto Fujisawa IF Seino Tsuun R/L 05/27/1990 174/80<br /><br />I1. Junki Kishimoto P Tsuruga Kehi HS R/R 02/19/1996 181/79<br />I2. Daisuke Hashizume IF Osaka Sangyo Univ R/S 03/30/1992 174/73<br /><br />Marines<br />1 Ayumu Ishikawa P Tokyo Gas R/R 04/11/1988 186/75<br />2 Yuta Yoshida C Rissho Univ R/R 07/21/1991 182/94<br />3 Ryo Miki IF Jobu Univ R/R 10/25/1991 174/76<br />4 Shohei Yoshihara P Nihon Seimei R/R 09/14/1989 173/75<br />5 Seiya Inoue IF Nihon Seimei R/R 07/03/1989 180/105<br />6 Kota Futaki P Kagoshima Jouhou HS R/R 08/01/1995 187/73<br /><br />I1. Ryuzo Hijii C Hyogo Hojo HS R/L 11/13/1995 182/84<br /><br />Carp<br />1 Daichi Osera P Kyushu Kyoritsu Univ R/R 06/17/1991 187/82<br />2 Allen Kuri P Asia University R/R 09/01/1991 186/82<br />3 Kosuke Tanaka IF JR Higashinihon R/L 07/03/1989 170/80<br />4 Kenta Nishihara P Nichidai R/R 09/29/1988 178/76<br />5 Yuta Nakamura P Kanto Daiichi HS R/R 08/31/1995 181/75<br /><br />Seibu<br />1 Tomoya Mori C Osaka Toin HS R/L 08/08/1995 170/80<br />2 Hodaka Yamakawa IF Fuji University R/R 11/23/1991 175/98<br />3 Takuya Toyoda P TDK R/R 03/28/1987 176/88<br />4 Kazuki Kaneko IF Nichidai Fujisawa HS R/R 05/29/1995 182/73<br />5 Takayuki Yamaguchi P Toyota Higashinihon R/R 07/29/1989 184/83<br />6 Masatoshi Okada C Osaka Gas R/R 06/30/1989 172/78<br />7 Kentaro Fukukura P Daiichi Tech Univ R/R 08/03/1991 177/75<br /><br />Hanshin<br /><strike>1 Daichi Osera</strike><br /><strike>1 Yuta Kakita</strike><br />1 Yuta Iwasada P Yokohama Shokodai L/L 09/05/1991 182/78<br />2 Shintaro Yokota OF Kagoshima Jitsugyo HS L/L 06/09/1995 186/85<br />3 Naomasa Yohkawa IF Tokyo Agriculture Univ R/R 07/17/1991 178/79<br />4 Ryutaro Umeno C Fukuoka Univ R/R 06/17/1991 173/72<br />5 Shoya Yamamoto P Oji L/L 10/12/1988 181/80<br />6 Suguru Iwazaki P Kokushikan Univ L/L 06/19/1991 184/78<br /><br />Eagles<br />1 Yuki Matsui P Toko Gakuen HS L/L 10/30/1995 174/74<br />2 Yasuhito Uchida C Joso Gakuin HS R/R 05/30/1995 185/87<br />3 Kodai Hamaya P Honda Suzuka L/L 02/27/1993 185/80<br />4 Yuri Furukawa P Ariga Kogyo HS R/R 09/08/1995 178/77<br />5 Yusuke Miyanishi P Yokohama Shokadai L/L 05/01/1991 180/80<br />6 Takaaki Yokoyama P Waseda Univ R/R 04/10/1991 180/83<br />7 Kazutomo Aihara P 77 Bank L/L 10/27/1989 186/73<br />8 Susumu Aizawa P Nihon Seimei Ishinomaki R/L 06/03/1987 172/70<br />9 Ryuta Konno P Iwadeyama HS R/R 05/11/1995 177/70<br /><br />Giants<br /><strike>1 Ayumu Ishikawa</strike><br />1 Seiji Kobayashi C Nihon Seimei R/R 06/07/1989 178/73<br />2 Ren Wada IF Kochi HS R/R 09/26/1995 180/80<br />3 Kazuto Taguchi P Shinjo HS L/L 09/14/1995 170/75<br />4 Nobuyuki Okumura IF Nichidai Yamagata R/L 05/26/1995 177/72<br />5 Kentaro Taira P Kitayama R/R 07/12/1995 180/70<br /><br />I1. Makoto Aoyama OF Nihon Univ R/R 11/01/1991 185/81<br />I2. Shota Nagae P Osaka Keizai Univ R/L 10/08/1991 190/88<br />I3. Ryusei Kitanosono IF Shugakukan HS R/L 04/12/1995 180/80<br /></pre><br />It's 1am and it's time to party! &nbsp;I've got the justin.tv feed up and ready to follow the craziness. &nbsp;Not much to say except it's super-weird to see Tanishige and Ochiai there together like that! &nbsp;(Tanishige definitely has a little bit of a "WTF" look on his face). &nbsp;Hoshino sure looks happy. &nbsp;Can we get on with the parade and start with the drafting? &nbsp;:)<br /><br />Hey, it's Katoh-not-commissioner-anymore!<br /><br /><b>1:12am&nbsp;</b>Finally round one is starting! &nbsp;"unmei no shunkan" or moment of fate, heh. Let's see who everyone names for real!<br /><br />Fighters: Matsui Yuki (Toko Gakuen, P)<br />Swallows: Osera Daichi (Kyushu Kyoritsu, P)<br />Orix: Yoshida Kazumasa (JR East, P)<br />Baystars: Matsui Yuki<br />Softbank: Matsui Yuki<br />Dragons: Matsui Yuki<br />Marines: Ishikawa Ayumu (Tokyo Gas, P)<br />Carp: Osera Daichi<br />Seibu: Mori Tomoya (Osaka Toin, C)<br />Hanshin: Osera Daichi<br />Eagles: Matsui Yuki<br />Giants: Ishikawa Ayumu<br /><br />So that's 5 votes for Matsui, 3 for Osera, 2 for Ishikawa, and Mori is going to Seibu uncontested and Yoshida to Orix uncontested. &nbsp;That was unexpected!!<br /><br /><b>1:21</b>&nbsp;and Matsui goes to RAKUTEN<br /><br /><b>1:24</b>&nbsp;and Osera goes to HIROSHIMA! &nbsp;wow!<br /><br />And Ishikawa goes to the Marines but I honestly didn't care :)<br /><br /><b>1:34&nbsp;</b>Okay so now for the second round of the first round<br /><br />Fighters: Yuta Kakita (Nihon Seimei, P)<br />Swallows: Toshihiro Sugiura (Kokugakuin P)<br />Yokohama: Yuta Kakita<br />Hawks: Toshihiro Sugiura<br />Dragons: Shota Suzuki (Seirei Christopher HS, P)<br />Hanshin: Yuta Kakita<br />Yomiuri: Seiji Kobayashi (Nihon Seimei, C)<br /><br />Not too surprising that there's a fight for Kakita too, really.<br /><br />Kakita to Baystars. &nbsp;Huh.<br />Sugiura to Swallows -- that's kinda cool! &nbsp;I look forward to seeing him again at Jingu! &nbsp;Plus he's the pride of Obihiro Ohtani :)<br /><br /><b>1:42&nbsp;</b>THIRD round of the first round:<br />Fighters and Hanshin both go for Yokohama Shokodai lefty Yuta Iwasada!<br />Hawks take Ren Kajiya.<br /><br />I cannot believe this is going on further but there you have it. &nbsp;It appears that Iwasada is going to Hanshin because the Fighters opened their ballot faster. &nbsp;Holy crap!<br /><br />Well, at least whoever the Fighters take now will be uncontested...<br /><br />...and it's Ryo Watanabe, IF, Tokaidai Kofu HS. &nbsp;Huh! &nbsp;That was not a name I expected to come up in the first round, but there you go!<br />Time to start filling in the grid...<br /><br />Okay, so there you have the ACTUAL first round finished:<br />Fighters: Ryo Watanabe (Tokaidai Kofu, IF)<br />Swallows: Toshihiro Sugiura (Kokugakuin Univ, P)<br />Orix: Yoshida Kazumasa (JR East, P)<br />Baystars: Yuta Kakita (Nihon Seimei, P)<br />Softbank: Ren Kajiya (JR Kyushu, P)<br />Dragons: Shota Suzuki (Seirei Christopher HS, P)<br />Marines: Ayumu Ishikawa (Tokyo Gas, P)<br />Carp: Daichi Osera (Kyushu Kyoritsu, P)<br />Seibu: Tomoya Mori (Osaka Toin, C)<br />Hanshin: Yuta Iwasada (Yokohama Shokadai, P)<br />Eagles: Yuki Matsui (Toko Gakuin HS, P)<br />Giants: Seiji Kobayashi (Nihon Seimei, C)<br /><br />Wow, that was a mouthful.<br /><br />Honestly this was not terrible as far as I'm concerned. &nbsp;Also as expected, I don't feel much of any sort of emotion at the outcome this time. &nbsp;Kinda glad Sugiura went to Yakult, kinda wondering more about this Watanabe kid, kinda amused Mori will be on Seibu, and kinda like OMG CARP because they are really stacking their pitching rotation with these guys aren't they!<br /><br />Now for the parts of the draft I really care about like OMG THE FIGHTERS TOOK HIROSHI URANO IN THE SECOND ROUND! &nbsp;I love Urano, I've been a huge fan since he was at Aichi Gakuin and it is SO embarrassing that I don't have many good photos of him. <br /><br />And the SWALLOWS TOOK NISHIURA FROM HOSEI! &nbsp;YEAH!<br /><br />Tomei to Orix! &nbsp;Oh, this second round is the awesome round, screw the first round :)<br /><br />Good thing I have my copy of Grand Slam out because I'm beating some of the newspapers to the vitals on these guys, seriously :)<br /><br />YUTA YOSHIDA TO LOTTE! &nbsp;OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! &nbsp;I'm so happy he got drafted and by a team I actually can go cheer for him at! <br /><br />...I got buried in looking these guys up but MIKAMI TO BAYSTARS HE'LL BE ON THE SAME TEAM AS KAGAMI AND MISHIMA OH MY GOD MY HOSEI FANGIRL BRAIN MAY EXPLODE.<br /><br />btw it's 2:50am. &nbsp;I have had to dig for a bunch of details on a bunch of these guys so...<br /><br />Oh yeah, Hiromi Oka to the Fighters? &nbsp;Weeeeeeeeird. &nbsp;I wonder if he'll remember me if I stalk him at Kamagaya or not.<br /><br />still translating like a storm. &nbsp;In the middle of the 5th round now at 3:37am despite that the actual draft is well into the 6th. &nbsp;The Fighters took freaking Hakumura in the 6th and I do NOT know how to feel about that. &nbsp;But Rakuten took Yokoyama and I'm happier about that one.<br /><br />Also was glad to see my 2nd-favorite Tohto Big Boy go to Seibu in the 5th round, that is, Chuo now Nihon Seimei's Seiya Inoue. &nbsp;So there are still some exciting moments but it is getting harder and harder to find some of these guys, to be sure. &nbsp;Good thing I've got Grand Slam, some Shubes, and a college baseball magazine sitting here. &nbsp;(I didn't get an actual draft mag this year)<br /><br />hey look at that we took Ishikawa in the 8th round -- Fighters sure do like Teikyo boys, can I request they take Michiori Okabe next year now, please? :) <br /><br />OMG how did I not notice Hanshin taking Shoya Yamamoto in the 5th round?!?!? &nbsp;he was one of my favorite lefties at Hosei too! &nbsp;wow!<br /><br />Alright so it's 4:40am here now and I just finished translating the basic draft. &nbsp;I think I might hold off on ikusei until the morning -- not sure -- going to have a snack first and then reevaluate.<br /><br />One thing that I really really wonder is, how do all of these other little dudes get taken and not Ohshiro? &nbsp;He's so awesome, it can't just be the height.<br /><br />Note at 5:30am as I scour team sites for ikusei info: am I allowed to be... amused? that the "managing scout" for almost every Marines signing is either Kenji Morozumi or Yuta Shimoshikiryo? &nbsp;Who are both former Hosei grads that played for the Marines that I liked?<br /><br />next morning as I am checking and entering: I like that the Fighters site says for Oka: "<span style="font-family: Verdana, Helvetica, メイリオ, 'MS Pゴシック', 'MS P Gothic', 'ヒラギノ角ゴ Pro W3', 'Hiragino Kakugo Pro W3', Osaka, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;">圧倒的な身体能力を持つ大型選手。リーチを生かした打撃は飛距離十分。長打力に加えて50メートル5秒台の俊足と旺盛な闘争心も魅力。東京六大学リーグ戦では、「4番ピッチャー」を経験した二刀流選手だが、プロでは野手として勝負する。磨けばまだまだ光るダイヤの原石。"&nbsp;</span>which is, roughly, "yeah he was a yon-ban pitcher/batter before but as a pro he's going to focus on being a fielder". &nbsp;Yay.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-29388023555730803612013-10-23T09:31:00.000-07:002013-10-23T18:27:55.977-07:002013 Draft Photopost!Hi everyone. It's about 16 hours to the draft as I write this, having spent last night searching through photos for it. Yeah, I went dark all summer, but for those who know me on other outlets like Twitter and Facebook and Google+, you know that I was doing plenty of Japanese-baseball-related things all year, including some crazy trips like going to the east coast to see Darvish against Kuroda at Yankee Stadium (which, btw, I am completely never ever ever again allowed to diss the Yankees since they let me sit in Legends seats for that game and see the new stadium from an amazing perspective), seeing Uehara close a game at Fenway in my first game there, and trips to Sacramento to try to find Hiroyuki Nakajima (sitting in the dugout and not playing) and Fresno to find Kensuke Tanaka (who I got to meet, which was awesome!)<br /><br />I then spent all of August and September in Japan, and while I had a vague focus on train-related things (I went all the way from Wakkanai to Makurazaki, if you know what that means) I also went to around 60 games, including a day at Koshien where I saw the Best 8 play (and sadly got myself out of the sun right before Kona Takahashi came into the game) and some awesome rural baseball adventures, a Big6 All-Star game at Kusanagi Stadium putting me up to 5 stadiums I've seen games at that Babe Ruth played at, a few WOMEN'S baseball games (including getting to meet Shingo Kawabata's sister Yuki AND also meeting the entire Kawabata family randomly), and of course re-connecting with some of my old college ballplayer buddies who are now in the pros or industrial league, and making some new college ballplayer buddies as well.<br /><br />As usual, I'd love to sanitize and put some of the stories up here, but who knows if I'll have time -- I also started a new job right when I came back, at a very large search company that is taking up a LOT of my brain right now. I already warned them that I'll be staying up all night for the Japanese baseball draft tonight and will be in late tomorrow.<br /><br />So, now that you've gotten a 2-paragraph summary of my year, why don't I go on to do a BIG WHOPPING PRE-DRAFT PHOTO POST! I didn't do one last year and I am a little bit sad about that. I also may not actually finish writing in descriptions for everyone before the draft starts (I'm going to just fill it in between stuff at work today). Apologies in advance.<br /><br /><hr /><h2>Tokyo Big 6</h2><br/><br/><b>Hosei University, Takuya Kinoshita, C</b><br /><b><br /></b>Kinoshita's a really great catcher (a lot of the pitchers at Hosei have said that) but he's not a really great batter. &nbsp;I don't expect him to get drafted, but you never know.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Kinoshita3.JPG" /><br />He's built like a catcher, though, which is why the scouts have liked him for a while.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Kinoshita4.JPG" /><br />Throw to 2B<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Kinoshita5.JPG" /><br />I don't know what was up with this exactly but I took a photo anyway :)<br /><br /><b>Hosei University, Naomichi Nishiura, SS</b><br /><br />My only regret about Nishiura is that I didn't get to know him at all during his college career and is making me realize I need to be better about that. &nbsp;He's a pretty solid shortstop and came from Tenri HS, where he played at Koshien in his 3rd year. I think he's been scouted since HS and even if he may not be a top-level prospect or super hotshot type, he's a fairly solid ballplayer, and I think he partially decided to file because he had a pretty great spring semester and hoped to repeat it in the fall. (Hosei's really had bad luck with hitters the last few years, it's really been all about the pitchers, and Funamoto decided to go to ENEOS next year instead of entering the draft.)<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Nishiura1.JPG" /><br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Nishiura2.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>Meiji University, Hiromi Oka, RHP/1B/OF</b><br /><br />Oh man, where to start with Oka. I remember him showing up as this big freshman kid at the Rookie Tournament who could throw like 150 km/h, and he went on to pitch for a few semesters before it became pretty clear he was a guy who was all speed and no control. However, he could HIT. I mean, really hit. He's had a .330 BA in his college career with power and has been a regular batter for most of that (I joked for a while that Meiji was lucky to not only have two of the best pitchers in the league in Oka and Yamasaki but to also have two of the best HITTERS in the league in Oka and Yamasaki). I would really expect some team to take him just because he's a big guy with a hell of an arm and he's got a lot of raw power that could be turned into something, if nothing else, sort of like Takumi Kohbe was a project for the Marines. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Oka1.JPG" /><br />I swear I have better photos of him pitching but this was the best I could find.<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Oka2.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>Waseda University, Takaaki Yokoyama, RHP</b><br /><br />I actually have no idea where Yokoyama-kun fits into the grand scheme of things. I really liked him when he was in high school (he was actually considered a decent prospect for the 2009 draft out of Seiko Gakuin up in Fukushima and I remember seeing him interviewed on TV during some Koshien) and then he went to Waseda, so I stopped liking him as much. &nbsp;He's been injured a bunch, but when he's been healthy he's been a pretty good pitcher. I've heard rumors that Rakuten plans to take him for the local boy factor, but who knows. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Yokoyama2.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>Keio University, Akihiro Hakumura, RHP</b><br />Hakumura was kind of a big deal coming out of high school because he could throw 148 km/h even back then. &nbsp;He went on to Keio University where he started out fairly strong, but then kind of ran into a roadblock halfway and went on to be somewhat mediocre (IMO, at least compared to what people were expecting of him). &nbsp;His control actually seemed to get worse through his college career. &nbsp;I think some teams see him as a tall dude who can throw really fast and may draft him anyway, hoping a good pitching coach can work out his problems. <br /><br />I have a few friends who were classmates of his at Keio in both HS and university and they uniformly have said he's a jerk, but I've never met him so I don't really know. &nbsp;(The fact that I never met him despite knowing a lot of his teammates may say something in itself.)<br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Hakumura2.JPG" /><br /><br /><hr /><br /><h2>Tohto League</h2><br/><br/><b>Asia University, Allen Kuri, RHP</b><br /><br />Probably one of the more interesting people in this draft as far as I'm concerned. He's half-Japanese, his father was a minor-league shortstop in the US, and he actually started playing baseball with a Tampa Bay Rays little league when he was in 3rd grade. It sounds like he came back to Japan in 6th grade and was in Tottori, so some places report his hometown as Tottori and some report it as Florida. He is extremely lucky to look mostly Japanese -- I've seen him pitch for several years and never actually realized he was half until I saw his first name (亜蓮, which is "aren", but it's weird enough that I investigated to see for sure if it was kanji for the English name) It honestly shouldn't surprise me given how many other talented half-Japanese guys have come out of Asia University in recent years -- Robert Boothe, Krissada Shirakura, Bruno Hirata, etc. <br/><br/>Anyway, Asia University has won the Tohto League for 5 consecutive semesters, and Kuri has been in the rotation and has a W-L record of 18-4 in those semesters. It's possible he's getting helped by being surrounded by a decent team and all, but he's also got an ERA of like 1.60 in that time, so... yeah. I wonder if he'll be courted by an MLB team (like Boothe was by the Dodgers) if he doesn't get drafted? He's a pretty big kid at 6'3" 200ish and can throw 90mph. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Kuri2.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Kuri4.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Kuri3.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>Asia University, Hiroki Minei, C</b><br /><br />I would be really surprised if Minei doesn't get drafted. Not only was he a regular catcher at Asia pretty much from his freshman year, but he's also from Okinawa Shogaku (Koshien stronghouse and highschool of current pro players Ishimine, Hiyane, and Higashihama). He caught Higashihama when they went to Koshien and then again in college, and then Minei became team captain this year, and just like some other guys who suddenly get it into their head that being captain means being a superstar, he exploded into batting .361/.439/.528 this spring and is currently at a .357/.437/.571 clip for the fall. <br/><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Minei1.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Minei2.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>Toyo University, Takaaki Nohma, LHP</b><br/><br/>I dunno what to say about Nohma. He's kinda like Fujioka or Inui but not as good. On the other hand he came from a legendary Toin Gakuen high school team -- legendary in that almost everyone on their team went on to have fantastic college careers and SEVERAL became team captains at their respective schools, including Nohma. He's kind of Toyo's post-Fujioka lefty ace -- when he isn't being injured, anyway. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Nohma1.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Nohma2.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>Rissho University, Yuta Yoshida, C</b><br/><br/>I've been a Yoshida fan for a really really long time even if I haven't been all that vocal about it. He was Nichidai Sanko captain back in 2009 when I first saw them at Koshien, and then he went to Rissho, where he pretty much became the team's regular catcher from his freshman year on. He came to the US as a sophomore for the US-Japan tourney, which is where I met him as the bullpen catcher and fangirled on him about Sanko. I caught up with him a semester or two later and gave him some photos from the US tourney and had him sign one, and he already looked kind of different -- like I asked a teammate where he was, and the guy basically said "oh, Yoshida's over there", I went to talk to him, and momentarily honestly wasn't sure it was the right guy because he was... bigger. He was listed as 182/84 in the summer of 2011 and as 182/94 by the fall of 2012. 10kg or 22 pounds really does make a big difference in a guy's physique. <br /><br /><img border = "2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/070511/967-Yoshida.JPG"><br/>In July 2011.<br/> <img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/YYoshida3.JPG" /><br/>In September 2013.<br/> <img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/YYoshida2.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/YYoshida5.JPG" /><br/> <br /><br /><h2>Other College (US-Japan)</h2><br/><br/>I'm trying to mostly put up photos that I didn't put up in 2011 when I photoposted the US-Japan games. <br /><br /><b>Kyushu Kyoritsu University, Daichi Ohsera, RHP</b><br/><br/>It was incredibly embarrassing remembering seeing Ohsera at the US-Japan game and realizing I'd not posted any photos of him -- because he didn't appear in any of the games I saw! But I did have a few of him, since he's a really tall guy and I did watch him throw in the bullpen a little so I did notice him. Alas, I've not seen him pitch for real pretty much since Koshien 2009, but he's a top top top top top pick in this year's draft, so it's only a matter of who wins the lottery, not whether he gets drafted. <br/><br/> <img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Osera1.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Osera2.JPG" /><br/><br /><br /><b>Fukuoka Universty, Ryutaro Umeno, C</b><br/><br/>I really liked Umeno and even as a sophomore he was the starting catcher for the national team in 2011. Seems he has also only gotten better since then. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Umeno1.JPG" /><br/> <img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/070511/503-Battery.JPG" /><br />With Takahiro Fujioka. I'd love to see this battery together again someday :) <br /><br /><b>Fuji University, Hodaka Yamakawa, 3B</b><br/><br/>One of my friends who is a scout was at the 2011 US-Japan games and we saw Yamakawa hit a grand slam home run straight out of Durham Park. That was impressive. Yamakawa also turned out to be a really goofy kid when I talked to him. I'd really hoped to see him again sometime in Japan, but it just was never convenient since he doesn't play in Tokyo and I'm not around for the summer tourneys. He has been SOLID in college though, with a .304/.431/.460 line, 9 homers, in 9 semesters as he's been a regular pretty much since his first semester. My friend every now and then has asked me where Yamakawa is in the pros now -- not sure he realized that he was only a sophomore that year! I guess we'll see what happens today. <br /><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/Yamakawa.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/070511/191-Yamakawa.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>Yokohama Shokadai, Yuta Iwasada, LHP</b><br/><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/070511/764-Iwasada.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/070511/773-Iwasada.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/070511/799-Iwasada.JPG" /><br /><br /><h2>Industrial League</h2><br /><br /><b>JR Higashinihon, Kazumasa Yoshida, RHP</b><br /><br/>Yoshida is expected to be a super-high pick in this year's draft too. I only saw him play a little bit at the Industrial-Big6 tourney in April and not very much at that, unfortunately. <br /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/MYoshida.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/MYoshida1.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>JX-ENEOS, Motoshi Ohshiro, LHP</b><br /><br/>I'd seen Ohshiro pitch a whole bunch of times for ENEOS over the last few years, and he's been on the cover of a whole bunch of Grand Slam magazines and whatnot. My best guess on why he hasn't been drafted is because he's seriously barely taller than I am, because he's GOOD. I don't think I've ever seen him have a bad outing. Anyway, this fall at Kamagaya I went to see the ENEOS team play the Fighters ni-gun, and of course I went to say hi to all the old Big 6 guys like Mikami, Yamasaki, etc, and then I also approached Ohshima to see if he'd sign one of the photos I'd printed out, and not only did he compliment my photography but he even perfectly remembered the game I'd taken it from and was super-sweet and funny! We got a photo together and sure enough, we're about the same height. I don't really expect him to get drafted this time around either, but I'd be overjoyed if he did. <br /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/269-Ohshiro.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/436-Ohshiro.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/498-Ohshiro.JPG" /><br /><br /><b>JX-ENEOS, Tomoya Mikami, RHP</b><br /><br/>I've known Mikami far too long to be objective about him, I think I first met him in the fall of 2009 when he was a sophomore at Hosei and had been converted from an infielder into a pitcher, to take advantage of his arm and his huge height (190cm, he even towers over me). He didn't enter the draft when he graduated in 2011 because he wanted to "explore his options" a bit more, but when I saw him at the same Kamagaya game I asked him what he was up to now and whether he wanted to be drafted and his reply was something to the effect of "Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting drafted this year." So I hope he does :) <br/><br /><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/544-Mikami.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/552-Mikami.JPG" /><br/><img border="2" src="http://marinerds.com/pictures/draft2013/692-Mikami.JPG" />Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12038372.post-45409237160353864142013-04-23T18:16:00.000-07:002013-04-23T18:16:37.930-07:00Waseda's Yuhei Takanashi pitches a perfect gameKinda surprised I haven't seen ANY coverage of this in English, so as usual I guess it's my job to write about the Tokyo Big 6 happenings :)&nbsp; Of course this had to happen right AFTER I came back to the US!<br /><br />This past Sunday, in front of a relatively small crowd (reported as 2000), left-handed pitcher Yuhei Takanashi of Waseda University pitched the 3rd perfect game in Tokyo Big 6 history, against Tokyo University (not too surprising).&nbsp; The game <a href="http://big6.gr.jp/game/league/2013s/2013s_wt2.html">took slightly less than 2 hours and Waseda won 3-0</a>.<br /><br />What I find hilarious is that Waseda Sports has an <a href="http://www.wasedasports.com/baseball/130421.php">article about the game</a> with interviews with the players and all, but the only boxscore they attach is the WASEDA box, which is of course NOT the interesting one.&nbsp; How annoying. I basically went and found someone's written box score <a href="https://twitter.com/hochi_baseball/status/325940768692899841/photo/1">on Twitter</a> and transcribed it (the interesting half):<br /><br /><pre>Waseda 3 - 0 Tokyo<br />Sunday, April 21, 2013<br /><br /> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E<br />Tokyo 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0<br />Waseda 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 x 3 5 0<br /><br />Tokyo AB R H RB K BB SH SB E 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9<br />Shimojima, 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G3 .. .. G3 .. .. G3 .. ..<br />Iida, 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 f3 .. .. G3 .. .. G1 .. ..<br />Kurozawa, 1b 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 G3 .. .. F8 .. .. F9 .. ..<br />Arii, rf 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .. KS .. .. F8 .. .. f5 ..<br />Kasahara, c 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. f5 .. .. L5 .. .. G4 ..<br />Agata, lf 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .. F9 .. .. F7 .. .. KC ..<br />Sawada, cf 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 .. .. KS .. .. KC .. .. G6<br />Nakasugi, ss 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. G5 .. .. G5 .. .. ..<br /> Iijima, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. F2<br />Tatsui, p 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .. .. KS .. .. .. .. .. ..<br /> Nagafuji, ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. F4 .. .. ..<br /> Shirasago, p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..<br /> Nishiki, ph 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. KS<br /><br />Waseda IP NP BF H HR K BBH RA ER<br />Takanashi (win) 9 109 27 0 0 6 0 0 0<br /></pre><br />There are various articles around with photos and whatnot: <a href="http://www.sponichi.co.jp/baseball/news/2013/04/22/kiji/K20130422005658180.html">sponichi</a> <a href="http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/news/p-bb-tp3-20130422-1115901.html">nikkan sports</a><br /><br />The last guy to throw a perfect game in Tokyo Big 6 was Satoshi Kamishige, who threw one for Rikkio on October 22, 2000. He's now an <a href="http://www.ntv.co.jp/announcer/new/profile/s_kamishige.html">announcer for NTV</a>.Deannahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11951797747122213407noreply@blogger.com0